Perfectly imperfect

Project Life - Week 2

2012-01-17T23:14:00.000-05:00

Week 2. . .complete! I cannot tell you how much I love this new approach (new to me) of scrapbooking! It is so much fun collecting little tidbits from the week and using them in the pages. I also love using my iphone photos. So stinkin' easy to process them with apps and simply print them out. I've updated my blog and added my fave Project Life blogs on the right. On the left is my old 365 button, but I am updating it now with my daily photos which may not all make the project life cut when I'm putting my pages together. :) If you are participating in 365, or Project life at all. . .please link me up!

week 2 - Page 1

Week 2 - Page 2

Hello and Happy 2012!

2012-01-08T17:54:00.000-05:00

AAAahhhhh! I can't believe I haven't blogged or crafted (at least paper crafted) in ages! I know I've read other blogs where people just are uninspired or too busy to craft, but I never thought it would happen to me. I completely got burned out. Life happened. No regrets either. I am back though, and I have a tool to help me out a little with blogging now. It's my iphone! :) It makes taking pictures and documenting life SO much easier for me! Here I am a photographer, and I hate to lug around my ginormous camera to take everyday pics and then there's the uploading, backing up and editing of pics to make them "blog ready". I was just plain lazy about it. The irony is that the whole reason I bought it was because I longed for better looking pictures for my scrapbook pages. Now, I just want real pictures. I have a few favorite apps that I regularly use for my pictures. They are:

http://linktoapp.com/instagram

Instagram. . .I love that you can follow other people and see snippets of everyday life from the people you follow! Here is a view of mine.

http://linktoapp.com/My365

I love the reminder to take a picture everyday. This works like Instagram in that you can follow people and they can follow you. You earn more filters as you add people, interact and upload photos

http://linktoapp.com/PhotoStudio

This is my favorite photo app! So many options for what you can do to the photo. It's kind of like having photoshop for your iphone. You can also upload to many sites, like FB, Instagram, Flickr from within the app.

http://linktoapp.com/Camera+

I like this one for the Zoom.

http://linktoapp.com/PopBooth

Hands down favorite photo booth app! You can add filters, upload to facebook and best of all - for $2 they mail you and a friend the pics. Cool, eh?

So you my be wondering. . .it's great to have the ability to take all of these pics with your phone, but how do you get them off of your phone?? I wondered the same thing and did some researching and this is what I am doing. . .

http://linktoapp.com/PhotoSync

Wirelessly uploads your pictures to your computer. You can select the pics or just upload them all. That way you can print them out easy peasy.

http://linktoapp.com/PostalPix

I have not used this yet, but I intend to. You can upload them directly through the app and order pics from your iphone. They have Instagram sizes too.

http://linktoapp.com/Momento

This app is great for journaling your everyday happenings. I am using this for my Project Life this year.

Oh yes. . .did I mention that I have jumped on the Project Life train?? I love the ease of it and using mostly journal cards and pictures and then just whatever embellies my little heart desires. It.makes.me.giddy! I feel like it gives me a little more purpose. My family is excited about contributing too. They are my little scavengers, bringing me tidbits like receipts and tix stubs and momentos from what we do and where we go. Even the huz is excited and going to take pics on his phone for me (which is an 8 megapixel as he likes to remind me - therefore much better quality than mine). :)

Here is my title page

Here is a view of some of the items I've collected so far. . .

Some of my fave goodies so far collected are:

Clementine Core kit - Project Life

Smash products (date stamp, tabs, stickies, pad, etc.)

Elle Studio journalers and labels

October Afternoon label stickers

JBS label stickers

Ali Edwards digital elements from Designer Digitals (I use these with my silhouette. . .see tutorial from Ali here)

Silhouette tabs and tags (I used this tutorial to create tags from Lisa Truesdale found here)

Paislee Press journal tags

Amy Tangerine papers

Various washi tapes

Tim Holtz tiny stapler

I am too impatient (and cheap) to wait on the inserts to be restocked on Amazon, so I bought the American Craft inserts that have 6 4x6 sections. These are perfect for side by side journalers in conjunction with the 4x6 pics. I even used my 40% off coupon from Michael's. SCORE! I plan to stock up on more of those.

I am using an American Craft 3 ring binder as my PL book this year.

So there you have it! If you are doing Project Life or some form of it, I'd love you to link up! I started a Pinterest board for inspo here!

Canvas Bag Tutorial

2011-07-21T14:17:00.000-04:00

Hello! Two posts in one month. . .crazypants, eh? I've actually found a little time to craft, believe it or not! I've had THE busiest summer evah! It's been so fun though. Anyhoo. . .I must share that I did not come up with this idea on my own. I was inspired by my niece's bag that she was given as a gift. I figured it looked like something on etsy and then perused etsy for awhile until I found something that looked similar to what she had and what I wanted to make! So, credit for the design goes to this etsy seller right here. I purchased this fabric interface from the Silhouette website.

I purchased the sewable interface. I have done some searching (now that I am slightly addicted to this idea of cutting fabric and appliqueing it), and have found that heat n bond will work with the silhouette too. I have not tried that yet, but I intend to and I'll give my feedback on that too. So I purchased this about 5-6 months ago and just sat and stared at it. Anytime I got my scrapbook supplies out, I would look over it and daydream, but I was too scared to rip it open and experiment. Do you feel me? :) I do this a lot. However, this week I finally had all of the supplies available to tear into this project and I'm so happy I did!
You will need: Canvas bag (I bought a pack of 3 from Michaels and I bought the white color)
                         Sewing machine (although you could hand sew, it just would take longer)
                         Various Fabrics
                         Silhouette machine (or other diecut machine that can cut through fabric)
                         Silhouette sewable interface (or heat n bond if you dare).
                         Ribbon (from my stash)
                         Clippy/pin backings for the fabric flowers

I first found a font that I liked. I used "Ghosttown". I then lined up my fabric choices for each bag. . .I had the girls pick out the fabric and colors that they wanted. Next I cut a square of scrap fabric (about 4x4) and cut out interface about the same size. Then I ironed it for 2 seconds just like the directions indicate to do. It adheres quickly. Then I trimmed the edges and peeled off the backing. Srsly. . .super easy so far. I adhered it to my thick media mat and prepared my font to cut. I used the "view grid" option and made the squares resemble the ones on my thick media mat to get the sizing right. Does that make sense? :P Then I cut one letter at a time and it did a great job! I recommend using the double cut option. I used fairly thin fabric and it needed a double cut. I then trimmed any stray strings from my fabric and laid it out on my bag how I liked it and ironed it. There. . .all set until I'm ready to sew! SO easy! I did this for all of the bags before I began sewing.

I used a zig zag stitch like shown (really I just wanted to show off my new crackle painted nails. . .isn't it cool?). :)

I found various ribbons from my stash and just sewed a straight stitch for those. Now. . .for the fabric flowers, I looked on Pinterest. Don't you love internet? I used this pattern, but you could use this one

Or this one:

Or this one would be adorable: I actually think the fabric covered buttons would work even better for the centers, but I didn't have any left, so I used buttons from my stash.

For the backs of the flowers, I used these clippy/pins.

I love that I can take them off when I wash the bags or I can use them in my girlies' hair!

Here are the finished bags:

So there ya have it! If you have any questions. . .feel free to ask away! :)

Giveaway!

2011-07-14T11:31:00.000-04:00

PSA Essentials and Helmar USA (adhesive company) is partnering together to do a giveaway. If you are a crafter (a paper crafter in particular), you've probably used some of their adhesives. They make liquid scrap dots, Zapdots, Quickfix adhesive runner & refill, and gemstone glue. They generously sent us some of their adhesives to work with and I love them! My favorites were the Sparkle Mod Podge, and the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic as well as the Liquid Scrap dots! I used the Sparkle Mod Podge to create this cute bottlecap necklace for my daughter:

For Instructions on how I did this, visit the PSA Essentials blog right here!

So for the details of the giveaway, all week long on the PSA blog, they will be sharing fun and creative ideas of how to use the stamps with the adhesives. Comment each day and at the end, a winner will be chosen to receive a prize package from PSA Essentials and Helmar valued at $250!! That's it. . .just leave a comment and become a follower on the PSA blog if you haven't already. They are on day 4, so you'll want to catch up and comment on the last few posts, but it's worth it to get the beeeg priiiize, right? :) You may want to check out the Helmar blog here and the Helmar facebook page here.

So far. . .

2011-07-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

We are doing a lot of playing this summer. We are catching lightning bugs, going to drive in movies, playing glow in the dark football, making our own bubbles, making slushies and homemade ice cream, checking off my list of crafts from my "Crafty Goodness" Pinterest board, staying up late and sleeping in late, going to the pool, having picnics at the park with the splashpad, playing in the splashpad afterwards, going to Reds baseball games and the local Tincap games, growing our own strawberries (a bit unsuccessfully thanks to the chipmunks!), making strawberry shortcakes, going to firework displays, having a lemonade stand, making a fairy garden, making sidewalk chalk art, going to local festivals, buying ice cream from the ice cream bicycle, going to church softball games, running kids to baseball practices and games, going to the dollar theater with the family, going to the lake, making fruit smoothies and iced coffees, grilling out, going to amusement parks, going to the zoo, going to parades, trying out new summer recipes, and just soaking up the sunshine!!

Yet to do: camp out in our back yard, watch a movie in our backyard under the stars, make our own sidewalk paint, have a game night with our friends until late, make rootbeer floats, take a family bike ride to DQ, and a few projects around the home.

Completely neglecting: my laundry and my house.
So. . .that is a pretty good summary of how our summer has been! How about you? :)

Want2Scrap and PSA Essentials Blog Hop!

2011-06-13T02:17:00.002-04:00

Yay! Another Blog Hop means more prizes! :) Welcome. You should have just arrived from Tami Mayberry's blog. If you are unsure of the order, then visit Want 2 Scrap, where the blog hop begins!

Today PSA Essentials and Want 2 Scrap are teaming up to bring you some ideas of the fun products that each company carries! PSA Essentials, of course has the interchangeable stamps, and Want 2 Scrap has generously allowed us to play with their adhesive gems (my fave!).

I decided to make a scrap page. . .it's been awhile, and I had some new pics that needed printing and prettied up. :)

click to make larger

You can see I scattered the jewels throughout the page to add whimsical touches and it creates movement throughout the layout (yikes - sorry for the wonky photo. . .I took the pic at night and the lighting was horrrible!). I also used my PSA Essentials stamps from the "Bouquet Toss" collection (the umbrella), and the "Dare To Dream" collection (the sentiment stamps).
Here are a few detail pics. . .

So now for the fun part. . .
Here is where you can purchase Want 2 Scrap product, and they are offering 30% off your entire purchase from 6/13 - 6/23!
You can purchase PSA Essentials stamps here, where they are offering 30% off all PSA Essentials product from 6/13 - 6/23. The coupon code is SAVE ONPSA

*FOR THE GIVEAWAY:
PSA Essentials is giving away 1 stamper, 1 Peel & Stick packs of winners choice
Want2Scrap is giving away a $35 gift certificate to their store!
You have from 6/13 - 6/15 to enter.
To enter:
Be a follower of PSA Stamp Camp Blog & Comment (1 entry)
Be a follower of Want2Scrap Blog & comment (1 entry)
Winner will be chosen on 6/16 and announced on Facebook
Happy Hopping and your next stop is Kelley Eubanks.

The Twinery and PSA Essentials Blog Hop!

2011-06-10T02:27:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to my neck of the woods on the blog hop train. :) This is day five, and I am your last stop from the talented Emily Leiphart. A few exciting things to note before I share my project. . .

There is a ginormous giveaway!
You will have until SUNDAY 6/12 at 11:59 EST.
PSA Essentials is giving away: 1 stamper, 3 Peel & Stick packs of winners choice
The Letter Tree is giving away 1 monogrammed tote bag. . .check out how fun this is!

The Twinery is giving away Six spools of twine of winner's choice ($84 value)

Here are the conditions to enter the giveaway:
   Follow the PSA Stamp Camp Blog – 1 entry
   Follow The Twinery Blog – 1 entry
   Like PSA Essentials on Facebook – 1 entry
   Like The Twinery on Facebook – 1 entry
*Winner will be chosen on 6/13 and announced on Facebook on both Twinery & PSA pages

I am in love with this twine! They come in a variety of colors and I have been using them for my packaging for my photography business. Here is my contribution to the blog hop. . .

Using the fabulous twine and the PSA Essentials "Life's A Beach" summer stamps and a little bling too, I made a fun little piece of art that can be changed out for each season! With the variety of stamps for the Holidays for PSA Essentials and the variety of colors for The Twinery, it will be easy peasy. :)

*If you head on over to The Twinery right now, you can get 15% off any order from June 6-10 using this code: PSAHOP15
*The Letter Tree is giving a 30% discount off of all PSA Essentials products from June 6-10 also. No coupon code is needed as the product will already be discounted.

You will want to get the entire week's line up right here to possibly win other great prizes!

Happy Shopping and Thank you for stopping by and participating in the blog hop! :)

You're fired.

2011-03-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

If it was possible to be fired from lack of blogging. . .I would SO be fired. This is my son's new favorite phrase as of lately. No idea where he has picked it up. . .most likely his big "sissers". :) He fires me for not letting him play outside, for not getting him the snack he wants when he wants it, and for not letting him play hockey in the family room.

It has been a whirlwind month. We have had sickies in the house, gone through the horrendous ordeal of my mom having a recurrence of her cancer and took a trip to Vegas. Things are finally settling back to normal! Aside from the occasional allergy sneeze, good health has returned to our home, my mom is undergoing her second round of chemo and this time gets to keep her hair (YAY!), and we have unpacked from our trip and I've even accomplished some Spring cleaning.

I have not shared any crafty things for awhile and it's because I haven't been crafty for awhile. I have the bug big time (thanks to pinterest)! So many DIY's I can't wait to tackle. Kits I want to buy, classes I want to take, and stamp sets I'm excited to use. Speaking of which. . .
Take a look at two of my PSA Essentials projects! If you don't have one of these yet. . .you must get one! They are essential to any stamper or paper crafter. They are so versatile and there are endless sets available. They also have some exciting collabs coming up!

Also. . .if you are not already, I would love for you to become a fan on my "the clik chick photography" facebook page! I have an Art and Soul Boutique by Bercot giveaway coming up, and you will NOT want to miss it. For those not familiar with this amazing company, they have been around for years and Kristine, the founder, helped Denise with Matilda Jane. The famous Matilda Jane pants are Kristine's fab. brain child! She is launching her adult clothing line in a few weeks and I am photographing them this week. . .they are SO so cute! I cannot wait to wear the pieces this summer.
Just so you can see a glimpse of her clothing line. . .

Oh. . and one more shameless plug. :)
*Check out this giveaway on my sweet friend's blog for an art journaling class by the fab Christy Tomlinson. . .the interview is SO inspiring!! You have until tomorrow!
*If you are still reading my blog. . .I thank you!* ♥♥♥

Finally. . .a crafty post!

2011-02-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

Hi! So I know I've fallen off the blog bandwagon lately. I have not had any craft "mojo" for the last few months. I got kind of burned out. I still have loved slobbering over my fave crafty blog reads and have been inspired by what I've seen, but no desire to make anything. My poor scrapbook space has been neglected a bit. I am making a comeback, slowly but surely. Seeing all of the new CHA goodies has helped! Do you have any faves? I have been keeping my faves in a notebook so I can make a purchase once they all hit the stores. If you have not seen any of the newest rages, allow me to introduce you. . .
First - woodgrain tape y'alls! Woodgrain! Do you hear my heart beating outta my chest? I cannot wait to get these washi tapes from Hambly!

(click to view larger)

Second - The Daily Junque line from Pink Paislee! I absolutely big puffy heart every bit of their new lines. My friend Tina designs for them and I cannot wait to see what she creates with their new goodies!

Third - Crate Paper's new lines, especially Emma's Shoppe.

Fourth - Cosmo Cricket Glubers. Yep. . .you read that right. Gluber. Not to be confused with the yuckies we wipe from our kiddo's noses.

Fifth - My last two faves. . .Smashbox. I cannot wait to get my hands on these. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until the big release in April. I am getting them for my girls too. I think it's a wonderful way to keep scrappies. Be sure to watch the video to see how coolness they really are!

Sixth - Silhouette Fabric Interface. I have already purchased a grab bag of designer fabric scraps on etsy to play with! I am just waiting on my interface to arrive and the fabric scraps. So many ideas for this baby. I can make monogram tees, cupcakes, robots, deer, owlies, you get the idea. Anything you have a shape for in the Silhouette library, you can cut out now with the interface and applique it to a tee! Agh! I die with happiness.

Lastly. . .I bought some heat transfer from Silhouette awhile back. I would get scared just looking at it. That's the way I am. I have fun supplies to play with and I kinda freak out when it comes to sitting down and completing a project. So finally, while the mister was out with the boys one night, I had the kiddies in bed and just went to town playing and cutting things with the silhouette and being super inspired by kid's tees I had seen on Etsy (I pretty much shamelessly copied them), I made these for two of my kids!

:-)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-26T23:54:00.000-05:00

He cut his little hand on a vintage chair that had a sharp thing poking through. :-( Thank goodness for Spiderman bandaids. They helped make his ouchie better!

Tumblr Tuesday!

2011-01-25T22:35:00.000-05:00

The theme this week is, clever storage solutions!

A few of my faves. . .

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Lovely, eh? Back tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday!

I got tagged!

2011-01-20T17:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I love these things! Haha. I love to read them about other people, and I totally strain my brain trying to come up with interesting things to put on mine. :-) My friend Jocelyn tagged me. So here goes. . .15 things that you do not know about me. . .to get to know me better. . .because you WANT to get to know me better, right? Heheh. . .
1. I love these------> . . . . . . . . . .
In case you have not already noticed. I always use them in my posts. It may even drive some of you grammar peeps crazy (I am very tight with grammar peeps as my mom is an author and my brother an English/journalism teacher, so I get some flack about my grammar mistakes). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. I am an indecisive person. Give me a giftcard to a store and I freak out because I don't know what to spend it on when I could buy anything. I will walk for days around the store finding everything in that price range before making a well thought out decision on what to purchase. With many choices, I am easily flustered.
3. I broke my pinky toe while doing laundry. Yep. It caught on the little holes on the laundry basket. I actually got up from the couch to rewind my fave part of the movie "Ever After" where the prince looks sooo dreamy, and while I tried to hurry back to the couch to watch it, it caught. Are you all wincing now?
:-)
4. I have to have a fan on while I sleep. I sleep under a pile of down blankets all cozy and warm and love to have a cool fan blowing in my face.
5. I am OCD about having a clean house, but you could find chicken nuggets from a few months ago in my van (from the kids of course!). I always silently pray that people who don't know me will not think I keep my house like I do my vehicle.
6. I won a karaoke contest on our cruise and performed the last day as Aretha Franklin, singing "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". You should have seen my wig.
7. I love ghost tv shows, like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State. I DVR them all. I am a total nerd in that way. Sigh.
8. My most favorite treat is Mounds Candy Bars. Around Halloween, I get bags of it and eat it. By. My. Self. Gulp!
9. I believe I was meant to live in a warm-all-year-long-climate. I do not tolerate cold, like at all. I am a major weenie when it comes to anything outdoors in the winter. I can tolerate heat much better. Loves it.
10. I have two things that people think of me when they see. . .glitter and chalkboards. I am known for my love of glitter at the age of 33. I also have chalkboard painted things all over my house! I can never have enough of either.
11. Whenever my husband is out of town on business or trips with his nephews, I go to the store and pick up Chili Cheese Fritos dip and Chili Cheese Fritos, and Oreos. I don't really know why. It's kind of my way of treating myself to a fun weekend with myself and the kids. We eat junkfood and watch a fun family movie. It's the only time I'll buy it though.
12. I used to have hair extensions. The funny thing is no one noticed that my hair grew 10 inches overnight. People asked if I got new glasses, or had my hair highlighted. :-)
13. My favorite movie is Newsies. I still listen to the soundtrack all the time and have most of the dialogue memorized. Christian Bale was my first Hollywood crush. I was rebellious and tore a picture of him out of a library magazine. I did not even get caught. Crazypants.
14. I used to be a licensed Sleep Tech. I could read your brainwaves and know what stage of sleep you are in.
15. I can NOT handle boogars. I gag (have thrown up before) anytime I see or think of them. Even with my own kids. My husband has to do the nose wiping and picking in this house. Sorry. That's all I could come up with for the last one! LOL.
Now, to tag five of my friends. . .

Oh miss Misschelle, of Chinamommy!

Tina from It's not always Black and White

Sara, from TLC

Deana, from (diva)logues

Courtney, from Domestic Blunders

You'reeeee IT!

Tumblr Tuesday. . .number 2!

2011-01-11T23:26:00.001-05:00

Some fun tutorials I've saved. :-)

Newspaper Flowers

source

Ikea Spice Rack Bookshelves

source

Crate Storage on Wheels

source

T-Shirt Pom Poms

source

Fun, no? So tomorrow we already have a 2 hour snow delay! Yay! Tonight we had a hearty chili "stew" (I like to make mine thick and I make chili-mac with macaroni noodles. Then, after the kiddos were snuggled in bed, I made my sweetie and I skookies! They were SO.GOOD. Highly highly recommend. It's not complete without ice cream and whip cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over it all. Drooling yet? We have always gone to Cheddar's or to Uno's for the chocolate chip cookie monster dessert and now we can make our own (should have taken pics). I will remember next time.

We're getting ready to start a late night movie since I can sleep in a little tomorrow. ;-) Back tomorrow with wordess wednesday!

Here is my tumblr btw. If you're in need of more inspiration.

Five For Friday!

2011-01-07T18:17:00.000-05:00

1. I'm thankful that my mom currently has NO cancer! Wooot!
2. Girlfriends. I have been blessed this year to make some new friends that I will cherish for life. We are soul sisters.
3. Art. . .it is my sanity amidst the constant chaos.
4. My new Christmas present (see two posts ago). It is so much fun for this little gadget girlie! :-)
5. Sleeping toddlers. . .especially when they fall asleep on mommy.

Now you have to leave a comment with what YOU are thankful for. I mean, I would love it if you did. I didn't mean to sound so bossy. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

Christmas at Essenhaus Inn with my side of the family. . .wonderful memories made yet again! :-)

Here's to 2011

2011-01-04T18:16:00.001-05:00

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Yikes! It's been wayy too long since I've blogged. The truth is? I just have not been motivated!   I try to keep it light hearted around here because it's not really my online journal, rather a place to share things that I love and that make me happy and crafty goodies. I have just had a stressful few months. Things aren't as bad as they were in the beginning of the year by any means, and I have so much to be thankful for! I sometimes take on too much and commit to too many things. With Christmas, I helped in the kid's classrooms and hosted get togethers, made gifts, among other things. When I have too much on my plate. . .I kind of go into a tunnel. It always seems to happen this time of year. It is cold and gray out, sickness hits our house big time, and it's just a busy time of year. I even had round two of shingles. . .it was in my mouth this time. Oy! Thankfully, I caught it quickly and the medicine kicked in right away. Needless to say, I get the blues.

Anyhow. . .I really want to change the format of how I blog. I want to stay motivated. I would like to follow through with something. Like so many others, I attempted the 365 and failed miserably! I took LOTS of photos, but the difficulty comes in uploading them and blogging them. I would like to attempt the project 52, which is taking a pic a week for the year. That seems much more manageable to me!
I would like to introduce Tumblr Tuesday to my blog. I know others do this and I am inspired by it. I love to find new inspiring blogs through links on my fave blogs. My tumblr is my online scrapbook of pictures that make my heart pitter patter. So, I'd love to share a few of them every week with you! I would also like to jump on board with the Wordless Wednesdays since I love the concept of just sharing a picture that speaks for itself. :-) I would also like to resume Five for Fridays that I adopted in remembrance of a friend - I blogged about it April 24, 09.   It is so easy to share 5 things that I am thankful for. I need to do it more often. I am putting this out there to kind of keep myself accountable. You all inspire me and I hope I can inspire you too!
I've also decided to give my blog another makeover. New year, new look! It's what I did last year, and I have fun designing the header and everything. It will be under construction soon! So. . .I'm starting today. Like, right now.   Here is my Tumblr Tuesday. . .Ode to cute and colorful rooms. . .

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Back tomorrow with Wordless Wednesday. . .

Btw - My husband, for once, got me what was on my wish list for Christmas. . .an iPad! Any apps that I should know about? Wanna know one of the things I bought him? A skookie! Haha! iPad. . .skookie. Think I know who made out better! ;-)

Good morning

2010-12-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

This week. . .

Two hour delay for school because of snow (Cheer!!)
My oldest turned 11. *Sniff*
Catching up on all of my photography orders and edits
Watching the Hallmark Channel continuously (I'm a sap for the Christmas movies). ;-)
Drinking lots of Mint Hot cocoa with marshmallows and Peppermint white mochas.
Christmas shopping online (yay to avoiding crowds)
Gearing up for Christmas caroling at a local nursing home this weekend with the kiddos.
More photo sessions this weekend
Trying to remember to move the *&%$ elf everynight.
Thoroughly enjoying this talented photog's elf series! Heheh!
Preparing myself for Chuck E. Cheese's tonight with the 11 year old and friend. Oy!
Dreaming up my next projects for PSA!

Right now. . .

Don't pay attention to my tired-puffy-no-makeup face. ;-) See that painting near the top left of the photo? That's something I've been playing with and will share when it's finished!
Happy Friday friends! :-)

A little Christmas shopping!

2010-12-02T14:37:00.001-05:00

Please take a moment to become a follower on our PSA blog! You will find some wonderful ideas for Christmas cards and projects (they are doing Christmas card kick off with new card ideas every day). I am seriously blown away by the creativity there! I have not ever been a very good card maker, but have been so inspired by what I've seen and have started playing around a little! There is also a big giveaway for the PSA stamps over here! Good Luck!

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours started out great. We were out the door headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan. We have family there and it's about 2 1/2 hours away. My husband is part owner/manager of some area businesses and had a "Thanksgiving" emergency. We stopped to check it out on our way out of town. What he thought would be a quick fix ended up taking over an hour. When he finally returned to the car, we realized that we would be over an hour late to our Thanksgiving meal in Michigan. We opted to stay in town and ended up eating at Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving, which was wonderful! The fireplace was roaring and it was toasty warm and cozy. . .just the way I like it! The ironic thing, is my brother and his wife were planning on staying the weekend with us after they returned from going out of town (they are from Michigan and were celebrating Thanksgiving in Ohio). As they were leaving to go to Ohio, their car started smoking and they were stuck in town with us! So guess who else showed up at Cracker Barrel? :-) Definitely memorable and fun!
We did some Black Friday shopping and began at the mall at midnight. We then headed to Kohls around 3am and hit Target at 5. Then to bed! I got some of my list crossed off.

Okay, so do you ever go Christmas shopping and want to *gulp* by fun stuff for yourSELF? Because I'm ashamed to admit. . .I do. Wanna see what I got?? I finally caved and bought a snuggie, only it's not the original snuggie. . .it's even better! It's this quilted fleecey plush hypoallerginic filled little piece of heaven wrapped around me whenever I am at home. :-) The cool thing is it can unzip/snap to just a large regular throw. Warning: Your husband will ridicule you when you walk around the house in this.
So I also needed some hand/arm warmers since I have been doing lots of outdoor photo sessions and need to free up my fingers yet keep my hands and arms warm. So these made my heart do a little flip flop. I love the chunky knits and they are just plain fun and colorful!
Of course now that I had my arms/hands covered, I needed a warm coat! Since I haven't bought a new coat since 2000 (for reals), I decided this was the year. I had seen the fuzzy North Face coats and really liked them. So I decided on a pink one of course. Now I have been known to sacrifice comfort for looks before, but let me tell you - this is cute AND soooo warm! I am very pleased with it. Now I have my mom working on knitting a cute cap to match my arm warmers and coat.

So here are some things making my wish list for my kiddos/friends and things I think are just plain LOVELY!
These are so doggone cute! Little Z modeled them for me when we were at Macy's the other day, and I think she'll be getting one for Christmas. . .maybe the monkey? They're all so cute!

Next, are these fun calendars from Sara Ahearn. They even come with a clipboard (which I think is genius) for displaying them.

Totally pimpin' my friend here because she is so talented and has some really fun things in her Etsy right now. . .how cute is this?

Because of my love for banners and organization, I purchased one of these and cannot wait to get it in the mail!

I have been very crafty lately and will have to upload all of the projects I have been working on, but now I need to wrap this up and pick up my 2 lovelies from school! Hope everyone is enjoying the start of the Christmas season!

10 random things. . .photo heavy. . .and a video clip. . .

2010-11-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

1.) PSA Essentials is showcasing great ways to use your stamps for the upcoming Holiday season! Be sure to visit and become a follower to see all of the creative uses for these fun stamps! I can't wait to share mine with you.
A sneak of my contribution :

2.) Crazy Daisy November kit is here and so warm and cozy! Check out all of the fun vendors in this month's kit. :-)

3.) A little late, but nonetheless. . .Halloween tour of my favorite decorations

Skellie from Michaels, Idea from Holly McCaig

Used Jenni Bowlin add on for those fun halloween pokey things. Lol!

I love that owl (purchased from Marshals)!

3.) A few of my latest scrapbook pages (using the October Crazy Daisy kit):

The Mini book cover

You can view the rest here!

4.) The new Dance2 Wii game is SO stinkin' fun. I am having a blast with it. It was actually my birthday gift to myself. :-) I'm totally not embarrassed to admit it either. Make fun of me, go ahead. I'll be the one with the crazy pants moves on the dance floor! Aw yeah! It is a much more fun way to burn calories than running on the treadmill. That is fo' sho'!

5.) Completely unrelated to the Dance 2 wii game. . .I injured my knee doing the Cupid Shuffle on Sunday night. I am going to the doctor on Friday. Wondering if I tore a tendon? I am hobbling around every where I go and icing my knee for most of the day.

6.) Already playing my Christmas Playlist while I be bop around the house cleaning the house after my little monster dude and while I finish various creative projects to be highlighted later. Christmas Playlist includes:
The Elf Soundtrack
Michael Buble - Let it Snow
Kenny G - The Greatest Holiday Ever
Chris Brown - This Christmas
Wham - Last Christmas
Mariah Carey Christmas album
Josh Groban - Believe
White Christmas soundtrack
Hot Chocolate - Polar Express soundtrack
Alvin and The Chipmunks - Christmas song
Carpenters - Christmas Waltz
Ella Fitzgerald - Sleigh Ride
Diana Krall - Christmas album
. . .to name a few

7.) Hittin' the busy season for my photography HARD! Lovin' it and all of the new people I get to meet through this adventure. Thinking of buying some new backdrops. . .Some faves are from here.

8.) Loving the new Matilda Jane Sugarland line!

9.) Ordered one of these this week. . .
I got the Fizzy pop, and really hope that I can pull it off and not look like a big dork!

10.) So so thankful my mom's recent CT results came out okay! Praising the Lord everyday for another day.

So, that's whats up with me. . .what's up with you??

Vacation Pics. . .finally!

2010-11-02T14:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I was welcomed back to Indiana with a nasty cold. So typical for me this time of year (last year we all had the swine flu and missed out on trick or treating). Thankfully, it didn't get as bad as it usually does and I did not have to go to the doctor. Still, I have so much editing to do on pictures and scrapbooking projects to catch up on. My October Crazy Daisy kit was awaiting me upon returning from Florida and I have been waiting to tear into it and begin creating. Unfortunately, I was laid up on the couch for most of last week. Now I am back and gettin' to work! First, I thought I would share a few photos from our vacation as promised.

They are a good mix of photos from the Universal Theme parks and from our condo where we spent a good deal of time poolside. We celebrated both my birthday and my daughter's 9th birthday while there. We love to go to Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney, and what better reason to go than for a 9 year old's birthday? The servers are fantastic and brought out a birthday treat for our daughter and when we asked for another dessert for our 10 year old (who wanted to pay with money she earned on the trip. . .oh yeah. . .we totally gave them incentive to do good deeds throughout the trip and show kindness to their sibs!), the server brought out another dessert on the house! We had a great time shopping, eating, swimming, eating, park hopping and eating. ;-)

I totally forgot to take out the numbers on the blog boards, which by the way, are from here! You can see some awesome Halloween crafts on the PSA Stamp blog (which I know Halloween is already over, but some are still having parties this weekend. . .so some inspiration might still come in handy!).
Here is one of my contributions. . .

Also, I wanted to share the new Silhouette project I did last month using my silhouette. I HIGHLY recommend the Silhouette if you are any type of crafter. They've added tattoo paper (I'll have a share on that this week too), magnet paper and already have vinyl that you can print on. The types of projects you can create are endless and the blog is so inspiring. Anyhow. . .I love how it turned out, and it goes perfectly with all of my Halloween decor! More on that later. :-)

I plan to use different pictures of the kids and cut out the silhouettes and place it on patterned paper and frame it like on here on Project Nursery.

I also want to share my mantle and the print of my kiddo's feet that I LOVE!

So thanks for letting me share all of these goodies with you! I hope that makes up for my absence a little bit. ;-) BTW. . .another wonderful update on Katelyn (mentioned in the posts below) - she was released from the hospital in time to celebrate her 10th birthday! Thank you so much for your prayers! :-)
xo

Update!

2010-10-19T18:17:00.000-04:00

Thank you all SO much for your prayers and encouraging words regarding my friend's niece, Katelyn. She is much better, but I'm sure they would still appreciate your prayers. She was diagnosed with viral encephalitis meningitis, and they aren't sure of the cause. I understand she is still in the ICU too, but things continue to get better! I would have updated sooner, but I had a very slow internet connection while in Florida.

So we are back as of last night at around midnight! It was very hard to leave. I crave the sunshine and I love palm trees and there is always something to do. I celebrated my birthday on Saturday by being awoken with a Starbucks frappe from my hubs! We did some shopping, lounged around the pool, more shopping, Downtown Disney, and ended the evening with the BEST sushi ever! I think I was just really really hungry, but it tasted so stinkin' good!

We stayed so busy, but still made time to chill. One of the parks we went to was Islands of Adventure where the new Harry Potter rides are. . .and let me tell you they rocked! Love loved the "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" ride. Not only is the ride the best, but while you are in line in the "castle" it is just as amazing. They don't leave any detail out! Highly recommend it! The kiddos were able to meet most all of their favorite characters! The highlight for me was seeing Xander meet Barney and Spiderman! It was so real for him. . .he is still talking about it and jumping like he saw Spiderman jump. :)

Some exciting news to that I've been sitting on and can finally share! I'm now on the DT for PSA Essentials Stamps! :-) Have a looksie at the blog full of great ideas for Halloween decorating and teachers gifts among other things. Their stamps are seriously SO so fun to use! I am having a ball with them. :)

Also. . .with October here and costumes possibly already picked out and hayrides/bonfires under way, the Crazy Daisy October kit is here!! It is a great one too. . .theses ladies outdo themselves everytime! I am in love with all of the papers and embellies they chose! So, check it out before it is sold out again!

Okay, I am dyin' here to show you pics, but blogger is acting up! Grrrr. . . . I will have to upload them all tomorrow in a purty collage. So I will post again tomorrow!

Blogging from Orlando!

2010-10-12T17:55:00.000-04:00

We are in sunny Orlando! Having the most wonderful family vacation complete with Grandma here for helping out (and having fun with us!). Lots on the agenda of things to do. The most important one? RELAX! I have had a good start to this one. ;-)
I'll have a few posts from here, as there are some things I want to share, but one thing has my heart heavy and I ask that you pray with me and post it on your blogs for others to pray, and maybe in our "sisterhood" of internet friends, we can lift our request up together. One of my dearest friends has a niece who is going to be 10 this Thursday. Her family has been missionaries in Haiti. Very recently, their little daughter began having fevers, and then seizures and from there she has not improved much. They were concerned first with Malaria being the cause, but now they think it is Meningitis. They are waiting to know whether/not it is bacterial or viral. She was flown to the states to a Children's Hospital and is in the intensive care unit. She took a turn for the worst last night, but improved some today. PLEASE join me in prayers for her and her family. We want her to pull through this and be able to have a big celebration for her 10th birthday! Her name is Katelyn. I will keep you posted when I hear from my friend. Thank you to my lovely readers/friends for letting me share!
xo

September Crazy Daisy kits and updates

2010-09-28T14:25:00.000-04:00

Hello! We are full force into fall. Even the weather has officially turned fall. We are in the 50's/60's and sporting our sweatshirts. Love it! My photography event in Indy was so fun! I met some amazing authors and made new friends. I met and photographed Janette Oke! One of the highlights was meeting an online friend, Courtney Walsh, that I met from my blog during the time of my mom's diagnosis. She was a huge source of encouragement during that time and since. We emailed back and forth and became instant friends. Meeting her in real life was so fun and it felt like we've known each other for ever! My only complaint is that our time was too short!
I've had some emails asking about my mom, so I thought I would address that since you all have been wonderful about praying for us and sending me encouraging emails. She is GREAT!! In February, I tried to have hope the best I could, but the doctor I originally spoke with was so discouraging. Mom ended up going to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Zion, IL where they treat their patients like royalty. It made all of the difference in her treatment. Not only do they have top notch doctors and cutting edge technology, but they treat their patients with respect and dignity and not just another patient. They were such a comfort to all of the family members. I am so thankful that she was able to have treatment there! She also connected with a soul sister from her past (they were besties back when I was just a peanut). Her friend was just what she needed and visits her every time she has gone back for treatment. The CA125 is the marker that they look for in determining whether/not one has Ovarian cancer and it continues to go down! We definitely are making the most of life these days. . .going out for coffees more, playing hookie from our house chores, taking picture ops more seriously (i.e. - not hiding from the camera!), and anticipating the upcoming holidays! :-) One of my favorite quotes, "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain."

Whew! Okay. . .now onto more happiness. . .September Crazy Daisy Kits are out and here are some sneaks!

Also, want to leave you with etsy goodies callin' my name lately!
Lovely Sweet William
Love her whimsical prints and the inspiring messages.

Fleur Avenue

Kay Lim

Adore the slouchy hat and embellies. . .wish I had the confidence and head to sport it. . we'll see!

Foster Kade Designs
Aren't those clutches so CUTE??

Hope you enjoyed virtual shopping with me. . .I'm going through withdraw! My big dude is dragging me through a Dave Ramsey course with him! ;-)

Happy Fall Y'all

2010-09-13T13:38:00.000-04:00

It's absolutely my FAVORITE time of the year. Maybe it's because my birthday is in October and I always looked forward to the celebrations, maybe it's because so many festivals pop up this time of year, maybe it's because of the yummy smells that waft through the air, or maybe it's because of the coziness from the hearty meals and warmth of being wrapped up in a thick sweatshirt. I don't know but I just love it ALL! I get the itch to be in the kitchen more after school starts. I like to have big meals and fun snacks waiting for the kids and my husband when they get home. I love to break out the chili in the 10 day meal rotation again. ;-) C'mon, don't tell me you don't all do that too! Yesterday it was pulled pork in the crockpot and homemade salsa and tortilla chips. Today it is penne pasta a'la Betsy via the pioneer woman! Mmmmm.
I also love to craft more this time of year. I was recently invited to create with PSA stamps, and let me tell you. . .they are SO much fun! They are super versatile and have such fun designs and colors. The images are crisp and they are easy to use and the possibilities of things you can create are endless. I can't share what I've done until it's revealed over on their blog (launching October 1st), but I'll give you a hint. It's Halloween themed! :) Follow their blog to see an amazing amount of inspiration. . .the designers that they worked with are so talented (Amy Tangerine, Marie aka Bettiescrapbook, Michelle Underwood, Christina Padilla, My fellow Crazy Daisy dt girl Mara!) just to name a few! I cannot wait to see all of the projects.
The September Crazy Daisy kit is here!!! It is FULL of super fun goodies. You'd better act quickly if you want one though, last month's sold out!

Here are some gnomes I picked up at a garage sale over the weekend. I have no idea what I'll do with them, but they were too cute and colorful to pass up! Any ideas?

Aren't they adorable? :)
I also thought when I blog, it would be fun to add snippets of a day in my life. Here's mine for today:

Heheh. . .srsly. . .this is what I see everyday. Little dude wearing some kind of costume (he's really into a superhero phase right now).

Speaking of fall. . .I was inspired to create this and wanted to share! It's etsy fall goodness.
Also, please be sure to check out my friend's new website: Cookie Cutters. Aside from making cookies, this site is a great resource for cutting out shapes on cheese/lunchmeat, etc. for Bento lunches.
I'm off to do some serious catching up on my blog reads. Should be a lovely and cozy afternoon!
♥

2010-08-15T14:36:00.000-04:00

My lo's for Crazy Daisy this month. . .I.loved.this.kit. So many of my fave manufacturer's and fun goodies to play with.

The full mini is pictured here.

I opened up a tumblr awhile back, but never used it. I have started now, because it drips with inspiration. I just love the photos and quotes that tumblr produces from all of that talent out there! So, if you want to follow along. . .here is mine (I just reblog whatever I see that I like)!

Gearing up for school this week. I'm getting all of my bento stuff together. I love to create bentos for the girls and their friends really get a kick out of it too! I use the Bento blog Wendolonia as inspiration for easy but yum bentos. There is a link in the sidebar too (under cool sites). I also am in a flickr group that has inspiring ideas for bentos, though some are pretty elaborate, and I can't imagine my kids eating quail eggs for lunch! LOL!

Here is the post that started it all for me. She gives great ideas for food for picky eaters.

Also a bento example of Wendy's. FYI, I get my bento supplies from Amazon, E-bay, Sugarcharms, and Obento. I enjoy it as a way to make my girls feel a little extra special. I also use supplies from Bake it pretty (link in sidebar) in their Bentos. I've mentioned them in posts before (I have the mustache candy molds). :) Here is also a great source for free printables for lunch notes and teacher's gifts, etc.

Well, we're off to the pool (for the last week. . .*sniff)! Hope you're all enjoying these last wonderful weeks of summer!
xo

A post in pictures

2010-08-06T00:57:00.001-04:00

What I've been up to. . .

3Rivers Festival
Parade with family

the bachelorette partay!

the wedding

Pedis with my girlie for getting straight A's all year long!

I got a Wacom Tablet from Craigslist and I'm in loooove! I'm having so much fun playing with it, and I need to find out what all it can do. Anyone out there who can give some pointers? :) Here is an example of art I've been making for fun. Actually, I don't think I even used the wacom for this? Wanted to share anyways. :)

That is a small summary of our last few weeks. In the weeks to come, I look forward to diving into my August Crazy daisy kit and have a wonderful plan for the mini that comes with. . .have you seen this month's kits?? Gorgeous! They are right up my alley with the bright colors, Hambly, Cosmo Cricket, and American Crafts, just to name a few. . .Go check it out!

You can check out my photog blog for my recent sessions. Been super busy with that this summer too!

One share:
Mila's Daydreams
Have you seen this yet? Wowz. I mean, seriously. It is so cool what this lady does with blankets, pillows, stuffed animals and a sleeping baby.

This is an image from her blog. . .just to give you a taste of her creativity.

So hows that for more randomness? I have been a terrible blogger lately, but I promise I'll get better once school starts and I have more time. Speaking of which, it's 2 weeks away for us! Not ready for summer to end! :( Hope you're all having a fabulous summer!
xo

Summertime

2010-07-22T13:44:00.000-04:00

Can you believe summer is half over already? We are soaking up all of the sun we can because in Indiana, it goes away for like, the WHOLE stinkin' winter! So, again, please excuse my lack of participation here and on your blogs. I am still checking in on all of my faves, just doing "fly by's". I constantly have kids crawling on me asking for a popsicle and if we can go to the pool now, and can we go outside and swing. . .you get the idea.
A few things. . .

Crazy Daisy kits is having an amazing giveaway with a cricut create! Here are the deets!

Also, the idance site that I told you has great giveaways (not to mention such fun dance tuts). . .well I won last week! So what are YOU waitin' for? Get on over there and sign up for a fun giveaway and put your toe tappin' shoes on! :)

I've been busy this summer with photo sessions and I wanted to share a few of my faves. . .

(overlays from here)

So that's all for now, we are camping out in our back yard this weekend with our besties, so stay tuned for fun pics from that! Off to Starbucks so I can get my treat receipt! :)

Ohh Target. . .(warning, very random post)

2010-07-14T12:36:00.001-04:00

Why can't I walk out of your stores without buying the most random of things. Remember that gnome that will be accompanying me to all of my summer adventures? Yep. Target.

Check out this fun new site. They have great giveaways and srsly. . .how many of us want to secretly be super star dancers? I know I do.

I'm in a wedding on Sat., and now I will know a few moves that will have people standing with their mouths to the ground (hopefully because I was rockin', not because I flailed about miserably and they feel sorry for me). :)Heheh. I am giddy about this site. Okay. Secret #1. I downloaded line dances on youtube just so I can be prepared at the reception. Secret #2. My girls and I downloaded Miley Cyrus' "Ho down" dance on youtube and practiced it so we could perform it for my husband (who was less than enthusiastic about our cool moves, but that's besides the point).

Remember the Konad nails purchase I mentioned two posts ago? Here are the results. . .

Yep. . .we are pretty big fans now.

This photographer, Matt Stuart, is amazing. He captures completely ordinary things in a humorous way. It's worth a look.
Okie dokie. . .I'm out.
xo

Lookie here!

2010-07-08T13:42:00.002-04:00

I designed/ordered this for my niece who is getting married next weekend. I got the idea from Design Aglow and wanted to make it myself. :) I love how it turned out and it's even better in person! Just got it in the mail today, and can't wait to see her reaction. This is for her reception in lieu of a guestbook. It's 20x30 and mounted. Just had to share! :)
xo

So far. . .

2010-07-05T12:43:00.007-04:00

We have completed these things on our "Summer to do list"
*Catch lightning bugs
*Go to the pool

oh yeah - and did I mention that this little gnome is going everywhere with us this summer? Part of a new photography series I'm doing. ;-)
*Go tubing on the lake

I love that this pic shows all of the gear that mommies haul to the lake for our sweeties. This pic represents to me bonding with girlfriends, chasing after kids, tubing, lots of eating, naps, dirty diapers, sun block, sun burn, LOTS of fun!
*Do crafts
*enroll in the Summer reading program at the library
*Use funky color sprays to spray our hair for "summer hair"
*had homemade pedicures (which leads me to tell you of a super fun find! I just picked this up on ebay

The Konad nail art kit! :)
I cannot wait to get it in the mail and play with my girlies! So fun. I read that a lot of the polishes like Sally Hansen and polishes at Sally's Beauty Supply will work so you don't have to spend the $ on their special polishes.
*Go to drive in movie (Toy Story 3. . .SO good!)
*Bought ginormous inflatable water slide. . .hours of fun!

*scrapping my summer in my summer journal

*Have picnic in backyard
*Go to zoo

Still have these things to do:
*Make homemade bubbles from this recipe.
*Make sidewalk "paint" from this recipe
*Camp out in backyard
*Have friends over for game night and fire up the firepit
*Paint bathroom :)
*Fairy gardens
*Whip cream fight
*Ride bikes to DQ
*Frisbee golf

So far. . .a super fun summer!

P.S. The July Crazy Daisy kit is now available. Love love the Jenni Bowlin star mini that comes in the kit!

P.P.S. I miss blogging. :(

Recaps

2010-06-16T22:43:00.007-04:00

Wow. . .I have been neglectful, eh? I have been so busy! We have 7 birthdays in our families this month. Two are mine. Little Z and dude. We've celebrated both already, but Dude's is not officially until the 21st. The wedding where I will make my "bridesmaid debut" is coming up too, which means lots of showers to attend. We have been out of town and are currently at our favorite water park. . .Kalahari. :) I thought I would just show a quick sampling of our past few weeks. . .

Memorial day weekend in Jackson, Mi., Koolaide stands, swimming, popsicles, picnics, end of school field trips, silly bandz runs (is this not the funniest thing? It is a HUGE trend here. LOL). . .

Dinner with friends, firepits, lightning bugs, catching frogs (you read that right. . .they caught 24 in one night. EW!), staying outside late. . .

Birthday celebrations, Chuck E. Cheese, too much cake, softball games, craft days, iced coffees, swimming, 6 week workout regimen begins (Oyyy). . .

More birthday celebrations, more cake, thunderstorms, really wet lawn, mean neighbor (I'll have to explain this in it's own post. Lol!), more swimming, garage sales, wedding showers kick off. . .

June Crazy Daisy sneaks, much needed vacation to waterpark resort, lots of photo sessions. . .yep. . I think that about sums it up for now. If you're still hangin' with me, thank you for your patience. :)

Hope your summers are off to a lovely start!
xo

Ah ah ah ah Stayin' Alive, stayin' alive. . .

2010-05-24T15:26:00.005-04:00

Still here. Still alive. In paaaaiiiinnnn, but still alive. :) I haven't had it as bad as some do, but my neck feels like it's on fire! I've had an ice pack on it most of the time, and it really helps to numb the pain. . .well that and a little vicodin. :)

I have just recently gone out of the house after over a week of staying in and we finally have warm weather with sunshine here! I just love this time of year. Yesterday, my sweetie and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary!

We always eat at this Italian restaurant that we went to the night of our wedding. It's our tradition. We eat there every year on our anniversary and usually eat out another night (as I like to draw celebrations out to more than one day!). It's a busy time of year and it's hard to get a whole date night in with softball games and double headers and field trips and cookouts. We had a wonderful time! He even took the kiddos to school for me this morning and came back with a Starbucks. What a perfect way to wake up!

A new scrapbook gallery/forum has opened up. I was so sad that SIStv has closed down and had met so many talented and sweet peeps over there. 2Peas is so ginormous and the forums can get a little. . .well, grouchy (for lack of a better word). I'm hoping to find all of the people that were on SIStv in one spot again! Go check it out! It's For the Luv of Art. Lots of great inspo up already.

Here are a few of the LO's I completed for Crazy Daisy this month!

This last one is from Sketch Inspiration site. Crazy Daisy sponsored their last sketch.

I just finished working on the mini and love how it turned out! I'll be sure to share that once I get permission. :) Hope everyone's Monday has been a good one!
xo

Yep. . .it's true

2010-05-14T16:15:00.007-04:00

and now I look like this

Heheh! Sigh. Photobooth is so fun to play with. Nah,I'm not that scary. . .yet. I would love to see all of your faces when you first lay eyes on that photo! It cracks me up everytime I look at it. Haha. The conehead kills me! Yes. I amuse myself.
For reals. This is me currently. . .

Heating pad on my swollen lymph glands. Poppin' meds so that I can ward the pain off a little. It's on my face and scalp! Ugh! Guess I'll be confined to my house for a bit. I'm a few days away from the worst of it, so say a prayer for me if you think of it. Right now what is making me feel better is this. . .

Cap'n Crunch half price frappucinos from Starbucks. Have you ever tried the Cap'n Crunch frappes? They are so yumm! I usually get them as a treat for my kiddos, but I have been craving them lately. It's strawberry creme and toffee nut I think? Anyways, I get mine with nonfat milk. Makes me feel like I'm making at least one healthy decision in my day.
So, depending on how I feel over the next week, I may not be on for awhile. Or maybe it will be all I can do. We'll see. . .
Still working on my mini for Crazy Daisy. . .did a mini photoshoot of the girlies for it! While I was workin' my camera, little dude was workin' his!

(mask found here.)
:)

So, off to read my scrappy mags that came in the mail. Have a wonderful Friday!
xo

Some sneaks. . .and sneezes.

2010-05-10T18:24:00.006-04:00

If I can wade through this wad of kleenex I can squeeze in another post! I have had a rotten day with allergies! Let me tell you. . .incontinence and allergies are a bad combination! Lol!
I received my May kit for Crazy Daisy as mentioned, and it is even more gorgeous in person! I got to work yesterday and sent in my lo's already. I couldn't wait to post the sneaks.

I also received my product from GCD, so I can't wait to get creating with that. The papers are textured and so vibrant! Well, if I could get through a few minutes without sneezing, I might post some etsy finds too, but I think it will have to wait! Aaaahhhh Choooo! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T22:04:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of my mommy friends out there! Hope your day was wonderful and you got foot rubs, chocolate, or some other treat. :)

I began the day with a Starbucks before church (have you seen the promo with happy hour? Frappes 1/2 off from 3-5! Yahoo!), ate at my fave Mexican restaurant and I've been scrapbooking all day. :) I am in loove with the silhouette. Cannot wait to share what I've worked on today. It's all for the May Crazy Daisy kits, so it will have to wait until it goes in the gallery. I also treated myself (per my hubby's permission) to an air chair. I'm a total nerd, but I've wanted one of these for a few years. I'd always put them in my watch list on Ebay, but they'd go for too high. I finally found one on Craig's List (yes, I'm becoming an addict). I have it on one of our swing sets (there was one here when we moved in and it has had hooks with no swings for awhile now). Now I can sit outside in comfort (not necessarily style) and read while the kiddos play this summer. :)

What did you do today? :)

May kits are up!

2010-05-03T11:43:00.007-04:00

Crazy Daisy may kits are up, and they are beautiful! Sooooo many goodies. Go to the website, and to the gallery to get all of the pics of what's included. The mini album this month is the new Kaisercraft antique tag album!

Cannot wait to get started on this one.

So I tried to keep up with a life in the week, but I didn't take a lot of detail pictures like I'd wanted to. It was more just pics everyday of the fun thing that we did that day. At least I took more pics than I normally would have and recorded our days, which was kind of the point I guess.
One of the things I stumbled onto last week was a new place here in the Fort called "Bounce Mania". It's located in the brand new ice rink and it's a rink full of giant inflatable bounce houses. They have a special on Tue.'s and Thur.'s for little kiddos, so I took two of mine. We were pretty much the only people there and the kids had a ball! Sooo fun!

Here is my mini I worked on for Crazy Daisy April kits. . .

To see the rest go here!

Hope you all have a beautiful Monday! :)
xo

Day 2/Week in the life

2010-04-27T21:46:00.007-04:00

Yowz! I'm actually doin' this! :) Today. . .Not super exciting. Breakfast, playtime with kiddos, Barney for Xman, laundry for me, karaoke for Z. :) Lunch (usually Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers. . .very boring), PBJ for kids, pick up girls, after school snack, play outside, received beautiful bouquet of dandelions. Hubs escaped to his nothing box when he got home (Call of Duty on the PS3. . .any other xbox/ps3 widows out there?), Kid's Night at Fazoli's! Karaoke at kid's night, stop at grocery for lunch and breakfast refills (kids and I goofed off in the car until dad came back). Not pictured. . .Redbox stop for kids, mom and dad. . .chill time! :)

Thanks for the sweet comments about my house on the previous post! I am trying to catch up on my reads tonight.

I finally have a post up on my photoblog! A fun post about creative ways of displaying your photos around your home using ideas from bloggers that I'm sure you've heard of or already have in your favorites. :)

A few of my Crazy Daisy Lo's. . .

Please excuse the wonky coloring. . .I took these photos at night with yucky lighting.
Back tomorrow with day 3. Hopefully a more exciting day, eh (not likely)? :)

Around the house

2010-04-26T18:38:00.013-04:00

Hello? I am still here. Last week was very unordinary for us. First of all. . .did any of you play along with this? I really wanted to, but then Monday left us with a trip to the ER that would end up being an entire week's stay at the hospital (for my husband). I spent most of my time jetting kids back and forth to different sitters, so I could tag my clothes for the bi-annual resale, run errands for my husband who needed various things and keep the house clean for his stress free return!

He is okay now. He tried to do a high intensity workout (P90X). He has completed this before, but this time he was a little more out of shape and attempted to do the reps until muscle failure. He ended up having serious muscle injury which led to a host of problems including near kidney failure and an inflamed liver. Who knew? He was swollen and tired, but otherwise in no pain which made it a little easier for me to bear. Anyhow, this meant that I didn't have the time to play along with "A week in the life" like I had wanted. So, I thought I would do it this week. :) Only, I kind of just took "around the house" pictures today. Maybe I'll get the hang of it more tomorrow. Wanna see?

My mantle right now:

A view of my family room right now:

Sidenote: I purchased the ones from Pottery Barn before I found the Craigs list ones. Boo. :(
My crafty corner:

Sewing corner:

What's on my shelves:

What's on my craft armoire:

Stay tuned for what's in it! ;-)
My filled Scrapbooks:

Mini Album storage:

Score!

More minis:

More work for me (that I choose to ignore while I blog):

Yummm!

A bird that has taken up residence right outside my front door. We frighten each other every time I walk out the door. She flies off and then screeches at me from across the street until I leave. :-)

Sidenote: Guess I won't be using my cute yellow planter for awhile. :(

So. . .what did your day look like? I'll be posting a lot this week. I have those full reveals of my Crazy Daisy pages to post. I won't neglect this at least for another week. ;-)

Good Morning!

2010-04-15T08:42:00.005-04:00

I am in a good mood today. It is gorgeous outside, supposed to be the warmest day of the year so far, and did you know that if you bring a reusable cup into Starbucks today, you'll get a free coffee? Yep - it's true. However, it is not for the fun coffee that I like to drink. It's for regular coffee that the rest of the world drinks. So I buckled and bought a fun coffee instead. I cannot give up my caramel and whip cream! ;-)

I've started my journey yet again toward toning and losing weight. I have this cycle where I lose weight and work out like crazy in the Spring to prepare for summer, and I store up fats for the fall/winter! ;-) I LOVE food. It's so hard for me to give up foods I love in order to eat healthy. I am a bridesmaid in July with teeny girls who are mostly college age, so mommy of 4 here has to get a move on! So what am I doing to lose weight this time? Well for starters, I went out for the first time and jogged 3 miles. What on EARTh was I thinking? The next day my hip clicked every time I took a step. Lol! Reminding me that I am not in my 20's anymore. I am working up to it, but yesterday my 8 year old rode her bike with me. It's a good thing she did too. On mile 3, I began to have a blood sugar issue. I started to get cold sweats and felt like I was going to pass out. I wanted to walk up to the first house where people were outside and ask for a ride home. I knew I was not going to make it home. My dd, however, did not know how to get home from where we were. I pushed myself as far as I could, until she knew the rest of the way to our house, and she had my husband pick me up! So what did I do?? I gorged myself on chocolate chip pancakes until my blood sugar balanced itself out, of course! Reminds me of when my s-i-l and m-i-l used to mall walk and then finish up at IHOP for all you can eat pancakes. AGH! Baby steps, right?

I've been crafting some more. I have a tutorial HERE for a DIY moss terrarium. I just need to add some cute little accents like these...

source

source
and

source

I also just have to share my newest etsy find with you! I just adore her art. . .

Isn't that so fun? You can find more of her stuff here (Printspace)!

Here are some sneaks of my April lo's for Crazy Daisy. This was one of my fave kits to work with! Loved the hambly, and the colors and the Amercian Craft stickers along with the new GCD Melody Ross line! Every kit comes with a mini AND you'll receive glimmer mist in one of Heidi Swapp's new colors along with a free House of 3 download!

Hope you're all having a wonderful week! I'm off to Indy for a few days with my husband and our best friends! I'll be back with full pics of the lo's once they're in the gallery. :)
xo

2010-04-08T13:21:00.005-04:00

Do I still have any readers? Heh-heh! Sorry for the delayed post. We have been on Spring break and had family stay with us the week of Easter. I have been tending to my house, doing lots of cooking and playing with the kids! It has been SO fun! We have had some unseasonably warm weather. Usually this time of year is the high 50's and 60's if we're lucky. Well it's been in the 80's here! Woot! We've been playing outside and enjoying the sunshine! Today, however, it's 41 degrees. Back to reality, eh? So it's a good day to stay inside and blog/craft/eat/clean my house. :-) Soooo. . .first things first. I HIGHLY recommend going to see "How to Train your Dragon" in 3D! I took my girls for some mommy/daughter time and we loved it! I think any movie in 3D is magical. I am so there with the kids, reaching out and trying to grab the things that pop out at you! What a wonderful memory. So that's my little plug. 5 stars. :-)

Second. . .we found out about this site through our local news station, but we have been addicted to it! It's an owl named "Molly" that has 4 little owlets and an unhatched egg (that they now think is not viable). She has a mate named "McGee" and it is so fun to watch him visit at night. He brings all kinds of food for the family (sometimes live! Eeek!), and initially I watched so I could see the egg hatch, but now I'm kinda attached to the little owl family. My kids love it too. A great homeschooling/educational tool. The guy who set it all up does q&a's with elementary schools all the time.

Third - I love to cook. Unfortunately, my family does not enjoy "real" food. My husband is completely happy with a hamburger helper meal. Blech! So, when I have family or friends over, I love to cook real food. This weekend. It was this wonderful Santa Fe Chicken Salad from this site. . .Creating Post It Notes. She has some yummmmy recipes. They make you feel like you're serving restaurant quality meals. Srsly. . .everyone raved about it.

Is that a tease or what?
Last night I made Baked Salmon with cheese crumb topping and sauteed some veggies with garlic. Just for me! That's right. No one wanted to eat it, but I made it anyways and it was amazing. Anyhow. . .wanted to share one of my fave recipe blogs with you.

Fourth. . .found this adorable site and I just love their products. The name is even yummier. Whippy Cake. Is that not an adorable name?
Love this little glittery birdie!

They also have this great tutorial for a "Boho Braid". I have 3 girls, so I ate it up and we've all been sportin' braids ever since! ;-)

Lastly - I have a new Photography Blog! I love my website, but needed a blog to post all of the pics from each session, and I really want to share creative ways of displaying photos and fun products that I carry. I am so excited to finally have it up and running. I will be sharing my first post soon. I am waiting for something to arrive in the mail to share!

Happy Friday!

2010-03-26T08:31:00.007-04:00

Okay. . .first things first. . .a few giveaways goin' on from some amazing sites!
•Have you ever seen an epiphanie bag (this is my favorite)? They are the bees knees. I look forward to getting one once I have some of my ducks in a row as far as the business side of things go. They are giving away a Canon 5D Mark II Check it out here for the details. You're welcome. :-)

•Next giveaway is from Paperie Boutique. They are giving away the Studio Look book from Design Aglow (remember that site I linked to a few posts back that I looooooove?).
Win the @designaglow / designaglow.com Studio Look Book – visit Paperie Boutique / paperieboutique.com by @shutterblog to find out how!
I found this site while googling for cute boutique packaging for my Photography clients. Then of course they have fun links on their sidebars and before too long. . .I'm screen sucking. Sigh.

I have been spending a lot of time on the net looking for photography related things and I must pass on these inspiring sites to you!

Erin Leigh Shares
giveaways, shares, tutorials

The Savvy Photographer
Sweet deals and resources and giveaways

Isn't this so fun?? Kaleidoscope cameras.

from this kiddo site

Lately I have been into "type" and certain fonts make my heart pitter patter. Take for instance the U.S. Cellular font that they use in all of their advertising lately. Did a little research and it's Rosewood Std-fill. I LOVE it! I also really like the font Skinny Cow is using in their current ads, which led to me finding this neat-o site! Hand drawn fonts and frames and flourishes. . .sigh. They also have some free downloads for cah-UTE labels. I downloaded a few to use for scrapbooking.

Then there is this site that allows you to either customize your phone with your own pics, or pick some of their amazing artwork.
Here is an example of their Haiti Relief design (proceeds go to the Red Cross).

Lastly. . .RUN to preorder the April Crazy Daisy Kit! Heidi Swapp is guest designing and even did a live web show about it. You'll get a free House of Three download and one of Heidi Swapp's glimmer mists in the kit. I spy some Dear Lizzy, Melody Ross, JBowlin among other goodies! Can't wait to get this one! :-) Here is the webshow.

Did I give you enough goodies to tide you over until next post? :-) I am brimming full of inspiration from all of the new sites I've found. I even saved some for next time. Lol! Just come back and say "hello" before you leave, k? :-) Have a fabulous Friday Friends!

A little Spring in my step :-)

2010-03-21T19:16:00.010-04:00

WARNING: Photo heavy post. :-)
Yikes! A little over a week since my last post. We've had some gorgeous weather here, so please forgive me for neglecting my blog last week. We played outside and ran errands. When the sun is out and it's warm, I love to go for drives. I go shopping even though I don't need or want anything, just so I can get out of the house. Do you do that? Target is where I usually hit up. I grab a Starbucks and just soak in the sun and walk around and get excited for cookouts on the patio, garden lights, the firepit, croquet (yes - I am a nerd), and flowers if I'm lucky. I do NOT have a green thumb, sadly enough. I wish I knew what I was doing when it comes to planting, but I'm seriously lacking in that department. I have to rely on flickr and blogs for ideas.
Here are some pics of patios that I luuuurve in my inspiration file:

I found those in a magazine last summer, but I can't remember which one!

In a Martha Stewart mag.

source

This next one just might be my fave. :)

source

This weekend I had a photography event. There is a conference for Christian authors in September that I am the photographer for, and this past weekend they had the board members for the ACFW in Indianapolis. My husband and I had a wonderful time away! I was busy, but on Fri. evening, we ventured out to a mall that has Potterybarn stores and Anthro! You all who have those stores where you live are some lucky dogs! It is such a treat to visit these stores and I bought a few goodies. My fave is this!

Nesting doll measuring cups (from Anthro)! Could they be any cuter?? Sigh. Life is complete. ;-)

To prepare for the photo shoots, I purchased some frame molds from Bake It Pretty. I made the chocolates and packed 'em up all pretty and put them in teal gift sacks. I also had my cute new business cards and of course had to have some professional (yet very stylish) liberty of london for Target folders!

My full reveals on those lo's I posted last week are up on the Crazy Daisy blog. =)
I also finished my mini. I chose to do a mini on all things "new and fresh" that I love. One thing that I like to do is pick out magazine pics that help to tell my story. I don't always have the time or patience to drive around town or go all over the house snapping pics of what I need to tell my story. I have plenty of magazines though and can always find a pic that fits what I'm looking for!

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend!
xo

Currently making me happy!

2010-03-11T16:06:00.006-05:00

*My daffodils are peeking through the ground!
*The new "Liberty of London" patterns coming to Target! Comes out this weekend and I foresee some new pillows and maybe a few cute mugs too! ;-) If you follow the link, you can see the new patterns AND download any of the patterns for your desktop! I have a bright and cheery new desktop right now.
*Light Java Chip Starbucks Frappes

Although I'm not sure how "light" they are. It makes me feel a little less guilty anyhow. =)
*My new mini moo business cards. . .seriously love them! So fun. I'll upload pics of my own soon!
*My March Crazy Daisy kit

*These amazing and fun Etsy stores

Belladrummer

Tessa Ann
especially like these ones

Urban Pink Photography
One of my faves here. . .
*Nearly last but certainly not least. . .My mom is at the cancer treatment center for her 2nd chemo session and had her CA-125 test to see where her levels are at. This is a protein screen that they do for ovarian cancers. If it is elevated, then there is a good chance that Ovarian cancer is present. Usually numbers above 65 mean that malignancy is present. Mom's number before the surgery was over 11,000! Today she tested at 30!! =D Praise the LOrd! The doctor said this usually doesn't happen until at least 4 chemo sessions. Hubs and I are celebrating tonight and eating out at our favorite Mexican restaurant. . .which brings me to my very last thing I'm happy about. . .
*eating at Cebolla's Mexican Restaurant. . .the best salsa and guac in 'da world!
*okay, so I thought of one more. . .Heheh. . .it's almost Friday and my shows are on tonight - Yay! =)
xo

Oh happy day

2010-03-02T16:55:00.008-05:00

So sorry I've been MIA. . .I've been doing photo shoots and taking care of my sweet mom among other things. I am SO happy that March has arrived! In Indiana, it is overcast in the winters. It can be a real downer. So I relish the warm weather and sunshine! I love love warm climates and could move to sunny Florida in a heartbeat. We had a beautiful day today with sunshine and I do believe my daffodils are starting to peek through. Making today even sweeter, was happy mail!! I love buying scrapbooking product. Especially product that doubles for other uses, such as cute packaging. So my latest little splurge has been on deco tapes. Etsy is filled with kawaii stores that carry these tapes. I received them today and cannot wait to use them! Here's what I picked out. . .

Pretty Tape

and

Hebeaccessories

Remember my little obsession with matryoshkas? =)

from the same seller as above

Cannot wait to break them out this week while I play with my new kit, which brings me to my next piece of happy mail. . .my March Crazy Daisy kit!!
Check out all of the cheerful goodness. . .and ladies it is packed full of all kinds of goodies! Remember that every kit comes with a mini book? I can't wait to get started on mine.

Here is the mini kit

They were so sweet. . .they even included treats!

What a warm welcome! I felt immediately part of their scrapbookin' family. I mean anyone who shares my love for scrapbooking and M&M's is like family. ;-) Thank you Jennifer and Kim! It made my day!

Then of course I got my new Anthro and JCrew catalogs, so it has been a sweet day. It's even made up for having to call a plumber today for a clogged bathroom and kitchen sink because I put some kind of plant filler down the disposal. I hate it when they make me feel like an idiot for putting something other than food down the disposal. Like I don't already know it was stupid. That's why I called you, now shut your mouth and unclog my drain pretty please. I have done this before. Sigh. I believe I've finally learned my lesson. *mini rant over*

I thought I'd end my post with pics from my e-session over the weekend! My niece is getting married this summer.

My personal fave

Loved working on this one! Such a fun outcome.

You can find the prop used in the photo here.
You can see more by clicking on my flickr link to the left. =)

Now off to leave you all some love and catch up on my blog reads!
xo

My new hairdo!

2010-02-23T17:32:00.006-05:00

Haha. . .okay. . .promise not to laugh?? I'll just tell you that my husband's reaction was, "I'm kind of embarrassed."
Me: What are you embarrassed of?
Him: I don't know. . .I can't figure it out, I just feel awkward.
Me: So, you don't like it?
Him: No. . .I definitely like it.
Me: ?????

Methinks that he knows he's in trouble if he likes it better than my real hair and he doesn't want to get stuck with his foot in his mouth maybe? My clever little man. ;-)

Okay. . .here it goes. . .don't wig out! Haha! I kill me. Ohhhh that was bad.

With a hat on here. . .I must say I love it with hats and hairbands. It looks more natural I think.

Years ago before I got married I purchased hair extensions that were $$$. It was real hair and it was from the Philippines so it had to be bleached to match my real hair color at the time. It was dry and never looked very natural. This hair looks and feels and acts more natural and it was so cheap! So fun to change up my look for the cost of highlights. So on date nights, I can wear "Fergie" as we've affectionately dubbed it. ;-) Hubs just wants me to promise him that I won't wear it to church. Or he will be embarrassed? Heh.

Cute hat from etsy found here, Frosting Couture Shop

Wig from here Vogue Wigs

Real hair here:

Pardon the poor photography. . .it's Mr. Mac a.k.a. mac photobooth. =)

Oh yeah. . .mom's reaction? "Hmmm. . .it's very. . . Lolita." Yep. She's worried about nasty old men givin' me eyes. Don't worry. I'll just put a sticker on my shirt that reads, "Mom to 4 kids" That oughtta scare 'em off!

Craft Therapy

2010-02-21T16:22:00.007-05:00

While I was sick last week, I was browsing sites and blog hopping which led to this site, One pretty thing which believe it or not, I had never been to. I browsed for awhile and loved finding new etsy artists and craft tutorials. One that caught my eye was this one. The artist, Alisa, makes these "mended" hearts to symbolize relationships and broken hearts. I immediately knew that I wanted to make one of my own, but to symbolize something different. I made one for my mom and wrote and stamped down all of the difficult things she has had to endure over the last few years. . .mostly with regards to her health. I also stamped words like, "Courage", "Faith", "Strength", and so on. I glimmer misted, stamped, stitched and stuffed this heart. The messier the better. Then I reinforced the stitching. . .to symbolize that though she has been through so much, each trial has made her stronger. Do you get it? ;-P When I show these things to my husband, he scratches his head and is like, "Hmmm. . .is it supposed to look like that?" Haha. He does not get my art. This is the end result. . .

The canvas is Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas and I used a typewriter to type the word "Strength" and pinned it on.

I also squeezed in a lo about my oldest dd

I tucked in some journaling in the little maya road envelope (love those!). I goofed on this one and already glued things down and couldn't remove them, but the process is what I enjoy the most. If you put pressure on yourself to create the perfect lo, then it takes all of the fun out of creating in the firstplace. Create for you! I used to create with the idea that others would see it on my online galleries and felt like my lo's had to be perfect, but when I began to let go and create for me - that's when I found my escape. My place to go when the pressures of real life are hitting me hard and getting me down. =)

Something I am looking foward to. . .if you go to the Crazy Daisy blog, you will see that Heidi Swapp is the guest designer AND they are going to have her new glimmer mists in the April kits as well as a House of 3 download!! =) I cannot get enough of glimmer mist, it's been my weakness lately when I go into Archivers. I just wish I could do magic with it like Maggie Holmes does!

Welp. . .off to finish editing pics. Just a sneaky of the cutie whose pics I'm finishing up. . .

Wouldn't you want to get back to work when you get to see that sweet face starin' back at ya? ;-)

PS. . .I should be getting my new wig in the mail tomorrow evening (did I mention I bought one so my mom wouldn't have all the fun?). =) I'll be sure to post pics.

Woot woot!

2010-02-16T13:17:00.010-05:00

I am so thrilled to share some news with you that I found out last night. . .
I am on the design team for Craisy Daisy Kits! Yayyyyy! I screamed and ran downstairs and told my husband (who nearly had a heart attack and of course I had to hug him just as he was taking a drink which went down the wrong pipe). He was happy for me though. =) Since I am sick, I had quite the coughing fit afterwards too. Heh heh. . .but I am beaming from the news. My fave part? They have a mini book with each kit. I LOVE minis! So I am very anxious for the March kit. Hurry up March. . .and warm weather and sunshine too. . .and while we're at it NO more snow! ;-)

What a week we've had (what a couple weeks!). Over the weekend, my husband along with my brother and his wife went to Zion (right outside of Chicago) to surprise my mom. She is still at the cancer treatment center and progressing wonderfully. We had a wonderful time with laughs and stayed at a family friend's house who lives nearby. She made our stay very much like a bed and breakfast. She had lots of yummy food for us and was so hospitable! This is what we found on our beds when we arrived. . .

Wouldn't you feel so pampered? =)
Here is a card I left her

Mom has had some tough days. Yesterday she had her head shaved, but she did get a hot new wig and she looks gorgeous in it! I am so anxious for her to come home. We see each other every day normally, so this has been tough to be apart like this. Thank goodness for skype!

In the meantime, my whole family is sick. . .again!! This has been the worst winter with sickness for us all. My daughter has a double ear infection and I have sinusitis. I have asthma, so basically I do breathing treatments all day and lay around locked in my room with the kiddos watching dvd's. So since I have been laid up in bed for a few days. . .I have had some time to do some online "window" shopping. Wanna see what I found?
I love the ruffles and the "flowiness" of the fabric on this one. . .

I love the cinched waist and teal is my fave color. . .

This one. . .swoooon! Love the vintageness

Of course I'd need some chic cropped pants as a summer staple. . .

and who am I kidding, I LIVE in sweats, so I'd have to have these purty ones for when someone comes a callin'

All from the lovely Anthro. Cute right? That was just one place. . .I was all over, but I'll spare you. =)

2010-02-09T19:45:00.009-05:00

I continue to be astounded at the generosity of others. . .particularly with people that they have never even met or do not know. I was the recipient of such a person this week.

I met this sweet sweet person because of what has transpired with my mom. My mom is a Christian fiction author and this girl is also an author. Little did I know, she is a scrapbook author as well! We hit it off immediately and emailed back and forth. She was such a source of encouragement to me and asked if she could send some scrapbook goodies since she saw from my blog that I liked scrapbooking (ummm. . .YES PLEASE!). ;-) I could not believe how generous she was and she sent such happy cheerful goodies. She also threw in two of her books that she wrote!

I told her I was starstruck by her scrapbooking celeb status, but she was so humble about it and thought it hilarious that someone thinks she is famous. ;-) You can find her humerous blog and her amazing work here (Courtney Walsh).

I hope I didn't embarrass her too terribly, but I am so delighted that people like this exist in the world. I am so happy to have met her through this yucky time. So good can come from bad. There you have it. Proof. You can find her books here and here. Thank you again, Miss Courtney, for allowing the Lord to use you!

In keeping with my normal postings, I wanted to share with you a blog that knocks my socks off with inspiration. It's photography related, but there are some ideas for us crafty gals too. . .It is Design Aglow. I have spent mucho time there today drooling over all of the products they carry and all of the ideas people submit using their products. Here are a few of my faves:

The cameras. . .swooooon!!

I want to share this with you too. It is special to me because it showcases the kind of relationship my parents share. . .

PS. . .My mom is having her surgery tomorrow! I would love prayers on her behalf! Thanks to all who read and to those who take the time to comment too. . .it means so much to me and I have loved getting to know my online friends!
xo

Renewed and Refreshed

2010-02-04T19:27:00.010-05:00

Whew! What a whirlwind few weeks. You all amaze me. The support, encouragement, the meals dropped off, little treats from people I know and people I do not, the emails. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! We have hope. My mom is going to a cancer treatment center near Chicago. It is a very good place and she will have her surgery sometime next week. We went wig shopping already, and I must say. . .I want one too! How fun to buy a long hot blonde wig and be someone different for a date night. Too much info?? ;-)

Well, when I am stressed I create. I think I may have mentioned that, but srsly. . .I pumped out like 9 pages and some cards and working on a shadow box art and mini album. It's good to stay busy and mentally be free. I also had some retail therapy and hit up my local scrapbook place for some new goodies. If you have an Archivers, they have these hero arts doily stamps in stock!

Also can be found here.

Also, with all of the scrapping I've accomplished, I needed a new scrapbook. I love this American Crafts one that I also purchased at Archivers.

Can also be found here.

Then of course, I had to get an etsy print to hang in my new little corner of the room. =)

Here are a few of my recent faves. . .

Dramamine Dream. My two girlies zonked out after taking some dramamine on a roadtrip. It was quite nice. Heh. ;-) Used a Kenner Road kit here - I think Dec's kit?

Used bits from the girl Noel Mignon kit and the buttons stamp is Kenner Road.

Three of my faves here. . .my kids, Sassafrass Lass and Glimmer mist. =)

One more thing. . .

Isn't that the coolest?? I love it and want to make one like it, which she has instructions on her blog somewhere of how to. You need to check out her site. Love her and she always has fun tutorials and amazing pics. Found the "how to" right here!
If you made it this far. . .you are a jewel.
xo

His joy comes with the morning

2010-01-25T15:18:00.005-05:00

My Monday began in the surgery waiting room while my mom underwent a laparoscopy to drain some fluid in her abdomen. She had a pet scan a few weeks ago which showed some inflamation around her female organs. She had cancer two years ago (marginal zone lymphoma - a rare cancer) and it was contained within the upper portion of her lung which she had removed at that time. She was cancer free and has pet scans ever since to make sure it stays that way. Unfortunately, the surgery this morning showed that she has little tumors throughout her pelvic region and on her ovaries. Not the good news we were hoping to hear. The Doctor thinks it could be ovarian cancer. Gosh, I hate that word!! I have been a puffy eyed snotty nosed mess all day. She is my very best friend. She gets me like no one else does. We have this weird sense of humor that no one but us understands. We have such a special mother/daughter bond that we call each other at the same time, we say the same things at the same time, we have even sensed when things are wrong with each other. She always knows before even I do that I'm pregnant just be looking at me and sensing it. It is a bond that cannot be replaced. So, you may understand a little why this is such a big blow to me.

I do know this. . .I know that we take on the strength of that which we overcome. I know that we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3). I know that in all things God is good. I do not understand why these things are allowed to happen to anyone, but I put my trust, my faith, and my hope in the Lord. No matter the circumstance. He will do whatever He has to so that the work of God might be displayed in our lives (John 9). I know that in our weakness we are made strong. It seems like He grants an extra doseage of strength and peace in difficult times. That does not mean I am coasting along without any emotions, because I am not. I am a mess! However, I know that there is a greater purpose. That's why I choose to put my hope in Christ. I would greatly appreciate your prayers! The days ahead will not be easy. She is an amazing woman and is so strong in her character. She has been a wonderful example of the Proverbs 31 woman to all who know her.
Okay. . .sorry for being such a Debbie Downer! It felt so good to get that off of my chest and share my soul.

My mom's blog with her friends

I know this isn't my typical post, so forgive me for not having fun crafty pictures. . .they will come later in the week (I have been creating up a storm!). Scrapbooking and crafting can be so therapeutic, eh? I am so thankful for this welcome distraction! I am also thankful for my blogging and online friends who provide encouragement from afar!
xo

Corners of my home

2010-01-21T00:07:00.007-05:00

Not too much to say. It's been a rough week. I'll explain in a separate post. I've been creating to stay sane. I have lots to share hopefully by Friday. I hate to do a post without pictures because I love blogs with pictures. I thought I'd share some corners of my home. Just for fun. :-)
First up. . .my bedroom-beside my side of the bed. I love this light (from Target) and the hutch is a garage sale find. The color of the walls are periwinkle which I happen to think is so dreamy and peaceful.

Next up. . .my new fave chair (from Target. . .are you seeing a trend here?) ;-) The pillow is an etsy purchase.

Shelves in my girlie's room. . .I just love those groovy girl dolls.

A colorful shelf in my kitchen. . .it houses teapots, colorful bowls, fondue pots. . .I love lots of bright colors.

A kokeshi doll and those tags I told you I hung on to (in my creative space)! ;-)

My dd's room. . .I LOVE chalkboard. Her closets are painted with magnetic paint and chalkboard over that. They have fun (especially when friends sleep over) writing all over it.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful blessed week! Kiss your loved ones. A verse I wanted to share that I love right now:
Proverbs 31:25--”She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” It really inspires and encourages me and hopefully you as well!
xo

Randomness

2010-01-14T13:37:00.008-05:00

THEY'RE MAKING A COMEBACK! =)

Polaroid PIC 1000

Posted using ShareThis

Love the woodgrain one. . .swooooon!

My new etsy print. . .I love sunshine, and especially during these blah winter days. Got it here!

Also looky here

I broke down and bought them. =) I love them!

My new find

Found it at Pier One, and I currently have it in my entry way with tags that I've made, atc's and pictures.

Just purchased this. . .

and I love it!! I know it's getting some flack because a lot of the recipes are already on her website and it's got a lot of pics as opposed to more recipes, but I happen to think it is FAB! If you're like me, and enjoy having step by step tutorials with pics then you will love it too. It's so great to know what the food is supposed to look like when you're finished, and another thing I love is the ingredients are most likely things you already have in your pantry/fridge. I made the chicken spaghetti this week and it was a family pleaser. I'm making the Potato skins for the Colts game on Saturday (GO COLTS!). =) Got it on Amazon.

See? No point in this post. . .just completely random. =) Enjoy your Thursday.
xo

Etsy loves - Matryoshka dolls

2010-01-12T16:51:00.012-05:00

Have I mentioned that I adore these? I always have. My parents have several, some from Russia and some collected along the journey of life. I have always loved sitting down and taking out each one until you get to the teeniest one. Etsy, of course, has some really fun ones and I thought I'd share the ones I've either already purchased or just would like to someday. . .among many other things (I think my faves list is 29 pages. . .eeek!).

handmadekitty

MelissaAbram

CowtownBlingBling

Ravenhill

Lemontreestudio
I purchased these before Christmas. . .I thought they would make very festive gifttags and. . .I kept them! I love to look at them - they make me so happy. =) I'll give them away eventually, but not all of them! Check out her whole etsy. . .all kinds of crafty goodness there!

Snappyshop

alittlesweetness

RusticRainbow
She has THE cutest brooches with all kinds of little beads and buttons - check out her whole store!

stickitiki

Also. . .I did not forget how to scrapbook. . .whew!

Used the latest Noel Mignon kit. . .it was all girls and that prima stamp sealed the deal for me (afterall, I have 3 girls - it was a sign, right?).

Hope your week is a wonderful one! My poor dh has begun his week with Strep throat! I am praying (and lysoling) that it stays away from the rest of us. He finally went to the dr and took a shot that is supposed to help it clear up in a day or two. So he has been getting babied and I hope to return to my normal duties by the end of the week. ;-) Be sure to check out my "365" - link to the left to keep up on our daily happenings. If you're not familiar with Project 365, it's been around for awhile and it started with Becky Higgins (I think?), and you take a picture a day (thus the 3.6.5.). I've wanted to join in for awhile, so no time like the present, eh?

xo

Extreme blog makeover

2010-01-06T01:20:00.005-05:00

New years mean it's time for change. So I'm giving my blog a little redo. It is a little work in progress since I can't sit down for longer than 15 minutes at a time without having to answer the phone, the door, the buzzer on the dryer, the timer on the oven, or one of my four kiddos. ;-) I planned a year in review of photos, but it will have to come tomorrow since it's nearing 2 am and I still have to pack lunches for the girls tomorrow.

Quickly - here is a fun project I completed from a Studio Calico add on that made top 10 on two peas. I just love doing things like this. I've kind of lost my scrapbooking groove and have been on an altered project kick. I'm getting all of my stash out this week to play, so we'll see if I can remember how. ;-)

So sorry I left you with that image of a toilet for two weeks. =) Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years! Be back soon with more changes!

xo

Up Close and Personal

2009-12-16T17:05:00.007-05:00

So each member of our family (that is 6 of us) has been spending wayyyy too much time near the toilet this week! We have come down with a nasty virus of the stomach flu. Some of us (little dude) have NOT made it to the toilet. =( What a week! I had planned to finish up my Christmas shopping early in the week before the girls are home for Christmas break and unfortunately that did not happen. I'm hoping to run out tonight, although I feel like I'm functioning at 75%. At least the puking is over! Ugh! Hope the rest of you stay healthy. . .this bug spread like mad!

So because I did not get to all of my shopping in the stores, I decided to do some online shopping. Anything to avoid the crowds and grouchy people of course. ;-)

I found this blog through this one (don't you just love when that happens?). Today I found the post about this etsy site! My little Zoe just loves clothes, and this

was perfect for her - plus with the discount I saved dh some $$. Everyone wins! I plan to get one of these sweet tees from Old Navy to wear with it.

So then I needed to buy something for my 'lil niece. I think these will be so fun for her and my little dude

My little dude's

I can't give everything away because some of my family read my blog. ;-)
One of my girl's wanted Zhu zhu pet accessories. . .I got her a zhu zhu pet for her bday before the big craze. Geesh! I went to Toys R Us to ask where the accessories not realizing that it is the number one toy this Christmas. The salesperson told me that they were in that morning and people were taking them out of other people's carts! Are you kidding me?? I am SO not playing that game. . .especially when we garage salers (can that be a word?) know that we will find them in garage sales this summer for like a dollar. ;-) Patience is a virtue.

Switching topics. . .This rad artist came out with some pretty cool overlays for photographers and digital scrapbookers and allowed me to test some of the product. I had so much fun! These are right up my alley. She is so talented and has the cutest prints in her etsy shop. This is one of my faves. Anyhow, if you love whimsical and original - than visit her shop!
These are some of the images using the overlays she has for sale
(tape frame from Kitschy digitals)

You can view more images from other photographers on her new blog!
Hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas season!
xo

Happy Birthday Sweets!

2009-12-09T16:53:00.008-05:00

My oldest is 10 today! On one hand, I am so grateful to the 10 years we have been blessed to have her. On the other hand, I have sadness when the kid's birthdays approach because it is another reminder that life goes by far too quickly. =( I went to her bedroom last night and just looked at her sweet face as she slept and held her hand and reflected on 10 years ago, how I had gone to the hospital to have a procedure done that would flip her because she was breech. My due date was not until the 28th of Dec. I was prepped for an emergency C-section, should the aversion procedure have a setback. After the doctors flipped her (which was so amazing to see!), I began to have contractions and since I was all hooked up already - they broke my water and I was havin' a baby that day! She was a peanut - weighing 5lbs and 4oz. So tiny and beautiful with LOTS of hair! Today she still has LOTS of hair, she is so stinkin' stubborn (I completely think that her unwillingness to move into the birthing position was a sign of her stubborness). ;-) She is artistic, a daydreamer, a good student, loves to chat, loves Taylor Swift, having sleepovers, adores her little brother, loves to read Andrew Clements books, her American girl doll, journaling, knitting, sneaking candy (I found a nest of wrappers behind the couch while cleaning last week!), her alone time, building card houses (she loves to tinker and build things), enjoys helping in the kitchen, and like her mommy loves scrapbooking and sitting by the fireplace with a cozy blankie while watching movies. She is quickly turning into a young lady. *Sniff*

Happy birthday baby. . .I love you so much!
xo

Have a looksie

2009-12-08T16:31:00.013-05:00

I have been following this amazing girl's blog for about a year now. It is absolutely one of my faves. She is so down to earth and I love her crafty style. She is doing a ginormous giveaway and blogging about it increases your chances to win. I'm SO down with that!

It's the EZ view craft desk

There are several blogs participating in the giveaway, so there are even more opportunities to win! 'Tis the season! Good luck to all who enter. Whether/not I win, it's exciting to see giveaways like this. Kind of like Oprah's fave things show. ;-)

Thought I would also post about the latest thing I've been working on. OHhhhh how I love this canvas album. One of the most fun things to work with. I highly recommend getting one if you haven't already. Especially if you love to get messy and play while you create. I stitched, misted, painted, and stamped all over mine.
Cover:

Family:

Faith:

Fall:

Art:

Brands I love:

Music:

Vacations:

Food:

I have a few more pages I am working on, including the header pages for each category. I decided to do 10 things about me. I have trouble with these kind of albums because I feel somewhat narcissistic scrabooking about myself, but I know I would have loved to know those things about my mom when she was at the age that I am. Somewhat of a time capsule. I think it would be especially neat for future grandchildren to see. ;-) Not that I'm in any hurry for that!

Tomorrow is my oldest dd's bday. She will be 10! I plan to do a special post for her tomorrow, but we are going to have a cookie decorating party for her sleepover on Friday. I found this twist and press cookie cutter at Williams Sonoma and it inspired the idea.

*note* I did not take this photo. . .it is from Baking Bites.
Doesn't it look like fun? You can mix and match the doll's heads and clothing to make your own doll. They have robot ones too. I can't find them on the site to link to it, but they are in the stores. I am confident this will keep my dd and her friends busy and having fun! Now to find a good sugar cookie recipe. Anyone have a good one? Link me up if you do!
xo

Lots to share! =)

2009-12-03T16:10:00.013-05:00

So. . .first of all. . .I am still alive. =) Second. If you are still reading my blog, thank you for being so patient and loyal. Heheh. Third - this will be a heavy photo post so I can show you what I have been up to over the last month! I thought that might make up a little for my lack of weekly updates.
So to recap, last time I updated - we were all getting over H1N1. It lasted for about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks in our home. We planned to do a "Halloween do over" mostly so I could take pics of the kids in their costumes, and life has been SO busy that we haven't had the chance. Poor kiddos.

Anyhow, jump to the following week in November and my sweet Zoe broke her arm when she was accidentally pushed off of the big stage at our church. Would you believe that when we were at the Ortho dr, she asked what they were going to do to her arm and in a moment of feeling ornery, I told her they would probably just saw it off (Bad mommy. . .I know!). I quickly told her I was just kidding and gave her a squeeze when I saw her expression change. Imagine my surprise when we went into the "cast" room and they actually have saws that they use to take casts off. They were in fact using one on a little boy her age while we were waiting to have hers put on. Poor Zoe had a look of horror on her face. I had to think quick to calm her down. After bribing her with promises of a Starbucks hot chocolate on the way home, she was all better and has a hot pink cast to show for it. =)

She can still twirl too, which thankfully the broken arm did not hinder in the least. See my little dancing Superman wearing only his diaper too? I believe they were dancing to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas".

I finally got around to making a cookie sheet advent calendar! I have always wanted to do this since they became popular, but just never took the time. Well I whipped it up in two nights and I am very happy with it. I love lots of color, so I went with bright fun patterns for this.

My fave magnet is this snowglobe one. It is the quickutz snowglobe die and I picked it up at a garage sale. Isn't it cute? I love snowglobes and I love miniatures, so I love this. I added some irredescent glitter to it to make it look snowy.

I kind of wanted it distressed so I sanded some of the paint off in areas and I still have to add the wire hanger and a few more embellies. The kids love it though and that is what I was going for. =)

I've also been painting and just doing art period. Do you ever have these creative storms brewing in your head that just won't shut up until you sit down and play? I have little stickies all over my desktop that are lists of projects I want to fulfill. Never enough time. Sigh.

For some reason these are showing up less vivid and colorful than they are. Anyways, it is supposed to be my kiddos but as my dh points out. Little dude looks like a girl. I think it's the eyelashes. Oh well. I still love it. ;-P

This one is just a way to use up some scraps (mostly from Kenner Road) and I wanted lots of color for a corner by my fireplace.

We've got mostly all of our Christmas items out now. I've finally realized that I don't have to put everything that I have or that people have given us out. Only what I love, and that's what I did this year. It makes me so happy to walk around the rooms and see these things. Wish I could keep them out longer!

vintage ornaments from a garage sale and the glass vase is from a garage sale too.

paper mache snowman I made last year. Glass dome from Hobby Lobby.

Silver tree from Target, vintage angels are from a Jenni Bowlin kit from 2 years ago there are pics of my mom, mother in law, and Great grandma (in law) from when they were young. I love them! Two art birds are from an antique mall I found yesterday. I mentioned I love color!

Don't judge okay? Heheh! ;-) I'm terrible at this, but I find it so relaxing and I get inspired by all of you amazing and talented ladies out there. I found a pillow at Target with something like this and thought it would make a lovely holiday wall hanging.

While I was taking pics, little dude came up to me and said, "What doing mama?" I told him I was taking pictures and he asked, "Take pitcher of Xanner (Xander)". So I leave you with this. . .

and yes. He wears the Santa hat every day and the superman pj's every night. Loves 'em. =)
Happy creating! I've got to go. . .I have LOTS of pics to edit and proof and 4 more photo sessions this weekend. It's supposed to get in the 30's and snow! Agh! Can't believe it's this time of year already!
xo

2009-11-02T18:52:00.004-05:00

Played Disney Princess memory game with 8 year old. . .lost again
Hubs brought home Starbucks White Peppermint mocha to make up for being a bad nurse while I'm sick. . .he's forgiven
Hubs picking up ribs and scooby snacks from the best rib joint in town
Still in our PJ's from last night
Added more pics to my new photography website gallery
Made my Christmas to do/make list
Found this adorable website. . .srsly. . .you will thank me.
Watched "Imagine That" - loved it
Received a package full of candy from sweet neighbor who noticed we weren't out trick or treating and figured we were stuck at home with flu.
Off to take a shower and shave for the first time in a week (shaving that is - I showered at least once). . .Hallelujah! =)
And just because I feel left out not showing off my trick or treating photos, these are from last year. ;-)

Feeling Swiney. . .

2009-10-31T17:29:00.003-04:00

I meant to update sooner, but I am in bed - the latest victim of H1N1. It is a beast fo' sho'! I have asthma, so it has hit pretty hard and I'm taking tamiflu and pretty much just laying in my bed for the last 3 days. Thank goodness for internet and internet tv! I have caught up on my shows and added to my etsy faves and am going to catch up on my blogreads next. Thank you my friends who have updated your blogs and given me something to look forward to! =) I'm so sad that I don't get to take my kids trick or treating. I'm going to make it up to them, but I'm sure going to miss out on taking pics and of course bringing home loads of candy. I did want to celebrate something with you all. . .the launch of my new WEBSITE!! Yay! This is my new photography website and I am so happy with how it's turned out. My good friend Dave with Poieo Design designed it and he did a fantastic job. Do you recognize the uber-cool frames? Got them here!
So. . .since I'm laid up in my bed and I've had a lot of time to browse. . .wanna see some of my new faves?
How cool is this polaroid ring?

yellowgoat

Really into flats lately especially ones with flower or jewels

kojodesigns

Do I even need to say anything?? I LOVE these!!

Uptown Avenue

I'm a sucker for anything personalized

punkybunny300

Last but not least (unless you want to see 39 more pages of faves!). . .=)

helendardik
Pssst. . .I like to think the "A" is for Amber, even though I'm pretty sure it's for Alice in Wonderland!

Welp - at least I left you with some eye candy. That's about as useful as I can be right now. Have fun trick or treating!! Can't wait to see all the pics on my blog reads! Love to you all. . .
xo

2009-10-23T11:28:00.007-04:00

Welp. . .it seems we are the latest victims of the flu. Two of my girls are sickies, but I don't think it's H1N1. They just have a little bug with sore throats and headaches and body aches. We'll see. . .I am pumping them full of herbs and vitamins and my family room looks like a hospital with all the sanitizer and clorox wipes and lysol! Everytime they cough we use sanitizer and wipe down the tables and spray lysol. Lol. Can't be too careful! My little guy is staying at my mother in law's until we know that this is over and not something more serious. They were so bummed to be missing out on Grandparent's day though. =( On the other hand, I kind of like being on the couch in our pj's watching movies and drinking hot chocolate!

I am so excited to have made this recent purchase. . .

Have you guys heard about this? It's the Elf on the Shelf, based on a book. A fun tradition that we plan to do with the kiddos this year. Here is where you can get all the details. I first found out about this from a photographer on flickr who did a hilarious photo series using the elf. Check it out!
You'll see photos of our little elf in December when he makes his big debut here. ;-)

I have been working on a planner for the year 2010 and it is nearly finished! I wanted to post some of my progress here. . .
the cover

A few inside pages

I purchased the day by day kit from Noel Mignon, and took the class to go with it. My book is patterned after Jana Eubank's. I am so happy to have almost completed it. I always have to have a calendar to write things down and I save them all because I can't bear to throw them away when I have things like "found out we're expecting again!" and "It's a boy!" on them. This is perfect because it combines scrapbooking with my calendar.

Well back to my nurse duties. Have a fantastic weekend!
xo

Three-two. . .today

2009-10-16T14:42:00.002-04:00

That's right. Today I am 32. It has been a wonderful bday so far. My husband took the girls to school so I could sleep in and came home with my fave Starbucks drink. Sigh. Then my mom showed up with coffee in hand too and said she took the day off so we could play, and play we have! =) We went to lunch at our local Mexican restaurant where you get a free meal on your bday and did some shopping. My dh has something up his sleeve for tonight or rather this weekend but he is keeping it under wraps for now. I just know that childcare is provided and it begins with an "H" (courtesy of youngest dd). ;-)
I've already done some pre-bday shopping. Hehee! Here is what I have come away with. . .

This fab ring by a sweet friend I've met through the world of blogging. . .be sure to check out her etsy shop!

(chinamommy)

An add on from Kenner Road,

This

this

and this

all spread out over some time of course. ;-)

I MUST show you these cah-UTE clippies. . .

(threefairyprincesses)
Aren't they the sweetest thing? I ordered them for my girls to go with their halloween costumes. We have a tinkerbell, jasmine and fiona (from Shrek). I couldn't resist. I plan on getting some more in the future.

One more thing. . .My Favorite coffee creamer ever is in the stores now. Get one while you can they go so quickly. Last year I bought one and fell in love with it, went back to buy more and they were out everywhere for the rest of the season. =( So this time I stocked up. =) My fave is Peppermint Mocha by the way.

Have a super duper weekend!
xo

Clear the cobwebs. . .I'm baaaaack!

2009-10-12T22:14:00.007-04:00

So I have neglected my blog for a month now. =( I have been super busy. I just love this time of year and all that comes with it. My fave thing to do is decorate for fall. My birthday is in October (this friday!), and when I was in third grade my dad had to be out of town on my birthday. To make up for it he had balloons, flowers and a special pumpkin sent to me at school. Two years after that, he had another conference that fell on my birthday so he again sent me flowers and balloons and another pumpkin related item. Every year since, he gets me a pumpkin or fall decor item for me. It used to be October 1st that I would get it, but now it's the first day of fall so I can enjoy it the whole season. So I have quite a collection of fall goodies and I love to make my own. This is one of the things that has kept me busy. . .

and I made this little haunted house (last year actually)

and this haunted little tree (tree from Target)

and this adorable monster just had to come home with me

So this week we are celebrating my bday and dd's bday the day after mine. I am totally planning to corner the market on cool moms this week by making these mustache suckers for her class treat. =) I hope to at least break out the firepit and make smores this weekend.

Since I haven't updated since the cruise. . .I HAVE to share my exciting news. Exciting to me anyways. . .I participated in a karaoke contest (I'm a total karaoke nerd) and won a spot in the "Legends" show that is on the last night of the cruise. I performed as the legend Aretha Franklin. Heheh! =) I wore a big black wig and a dress that was so modest it went up to my chin and covered my feet (my mom was prayin' hard that I wouldn't be showing cleavage - I just know it!). I had a blast! We got to rehearse with the cruise dancers and perform a small group number together too. We were sent home with a picture, dvd and momentos.

Okay, so the BEST part was when we were in the lobby the night before the legends performance, and we were dancing to live music and two ladies who had heard me sing the night before went up to the performer and requested that I sing. So he asked me to join him on stage and we sang two songs and got a standing ovation. It was definately something I can cross off of my bucket list! Thank you for letting me gush (*blush*). The performer I sang with looks just like Jackie Chan too! ;-)

So there ya have it. . .a quickie recap of the last month. I have some catching up to do on my blog loves now. So excuse me while I am off to leave some love.
xo

Whew!

2009-09-05T08:53:00.003-04:00

Very quick post. . .it has truly been an exhausting two weeks! My husband and I own a side business and have had several deadlines we had to meet all fall at the same time. That coupled with school starting and meeting homework goals and fundraisers (already!!) and photography deadlines has kept me busy and online long enough to check my email. We also had a very interesting weekend. . .it went something like this. . .

On Sunday, dd had a "fallout" with younger dd (not entirely uncommon for younger dd to be involved!). Dd was pushed and something was in her foot. She cried a bit and went to the bathroom and pulled a tiny object out. She showed her foot to me and I could not see anything to save my life! Her foot looked completely normal. She woke up at 4am that night with pain and I don't remember much other than telling her she would be fine and to return to bed (bad mommy!). She awoke a second time around 5ish in the am and I dragged myself out of bed this time to take a look. I still could not see a thing. I told her maybe there was a piece of splinter in her foot and I could either dig it out myself right then, or she could go to the school nurse that day and she might have a better method of extracting invisible object. She chose option "b" - obviously, wouldn't you?? ;-) After school that day, she was limping to the car, so I asked what the nurse had to say. She said the nurse said there was nothing wrong with her foot and she was fine. There you have it! She was fine! Fast forward to Thur. evening. She was limping all week and dh and I assume she is just being "wimpy" so there are several conversations where we say, "You have to wear your shoe!" and "Come on, you are fine stop whining." Bad mommy and daddy. She has a playdate at a friends on Thur. and friend's mom is a nurse. When she drops her off she asked if I had seen dd's foot. I said I had seen it the night before and it was fine. She says I may want to take a look now. People - her foot was swollen and red up to her ankle! Yikes! I take her to a redimed and she has xrays. . .she has an ENTIRE SEWING NEEDLE EMBEDDED IN HER FOOT!!! That's right. Mom and dad have been making her walk for a week with a sewing needle in her foot. Wowz. Did I ever feel like toe jam. So, she had emergency surgery yesterday and they pumped her full of antibiotics. She is home and healing nicely now! In fact, here she is with her new friend given to her by one of the sweet nurses

So all of that chaos and my husband and I leave for our cruise today! I will post when we return. If you are still reading. . .you are troopers and I love you! =)
xo

School starts tomorrow!

2009-08-19T18:34:00.008-04:00

We are living it up one last day. . .We rented a movie, dh is gone so it is just us girlies and the little guy (who just runs around and gets into things the whole time anyway). They get to eat dinner in the family room because it is a special night. We have our backpack and new school supplies all ready. I have seen backpack id's before online and decided to make my own since I figured that a few others just might have the Hannah Montanna and Jonas Brothers backpacks too (I desperately tried to convince them on Hello Kitty or Littlest Pet shop book bags!). Anyways. . .her is the end result

The back of Micah's

The front

The back of Macy's

The front

I found some baseball card sleeves/protectors from my dh's stash and thought they would work perfectly because they are sturdier than a badge holder. I used some scraps from a previous kit and cut and sewed them to cardstock (that I measured to fit inside the sleeve). I put some bling and stickers to the one side and added a label with glitter letter stickers to the other side. I then used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in them and added a binder ring with some matching ribbon and there ya have it!

Here is another little project I whipped up over the weekend. It was inspired by all of the banner art that I have been seeing and loving. The vine on the right of the page is from aneal's photogenic digi kit.

Also been busy preparing for our cruise in two weeks with our friends, booking photo sessions, baking (always look forward to this once school begins), and doing yard work. Speaking of which. . .my new fave pic

He has a bubble lawn mower and LOVEs it - especially when daddy is mowing the lawn. Heheh! I'll post pics tomorrow of our first day of school adventures. =)

xo

2009-08-10T13:56:00.013-04:00

Bad blogger am I (said in the voice of Yoda). ;-) So I had a huge week last week. The resale. It is a children's clothing resale for the community that draws people from all over our tri-state area. I am a committee head member for the Inspection committee. Sounds important, eh? ;-) We have to inspect clothing and toys and games and baby stuff and alllll kinds of goodies. It is a fun time to connect with other mommies too. Best of all is the shopping. As all positions are "volunteer", the perk to putting in so many hours is getting to shop before the public. The resale is only a half day on Saturday for the public. Those who put in hours volunteering get to shop on Friday and it is WELL worth it! It is like Christmas. We (my dh and I) tear into there and have a blast buying clothes and books and games and toys for our little ankle biters. Another thing that is nice is we all have the option to sell our belongings in the resale as well, so it is almost like trading our items for other items. Anyhoo, it is a loooong few weeks of sorting through clothes, laundering them, and tagging them and them hauling them over to the resale location, and then working everyday for the resale. Whew! It is over now and I can return to a normal life once again. My house does look like a clothing explosion though. I think we are going to forgo cleaning though and try and go to the pool today. We have 10 days before school begins already!! I am not quite ready for school to start. Yes - I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy some solitude while the girlies are in school, but I have loved having them home. There is so much more I need to check off of my summer to do list.

Drive in movie with the kids

Camp out in backyard

Go for a walk/bikeride around the new YMCA outdoor track

Jefferson Point outdoor concert night

and Outdoor water park fun with the cousins. . .

Fall is my FAVE time of year for sure, but we have had such a cool summer that I feel like we are going from Spring to Fall. Ah well. . .that is Indiana weather.

I have a lot to share, but I need to upload my photos first!
Here is a lo I did for the layout tag:

I did participate in the SOS (Shades of Summer) project that Elizabeth Kartchner hosted on her blog. I can't wait to see a snippet of how it all looks completed! Here is my pic (taken by my 9 yr old) =)

Oh. . .and totally off subject, but way worth the segway. . .I have found a flickr group that I LOOOoove. For all of you Domino/Decor 8 fans out there, you will probably enjoy this. It is called Colorful Rooms. Browse through a few pages and I swear you will find rooms that will inspire you to your toes. I cannot wait to get my hands on some paint and pillows. In fact, I am making a trip to Ikea next weekend so I can buy some pillows and lamps! =) If you look at some of my favorites on my flickr portfolio, you can see a lot of the rooms from that group that are amazing. I'll give you a sneaky of what you'll find:

source (dora337). I am also in love right now with buntings/ banners. I think they are so happy and make everyday a celebration. I know that kind of is cheesy, but it's true! Haha! They are so fun and here are a few of my faves right now. . .

source: jek in the box

\
source: nestables

source: lisa garay

source: leesa peesa rainbowpants

source: lovemaestore

source: dazeychic

Have a wonderful Monday!
xo

2009-07-21T18:27:00.008-04:00

Sooooo. . .I mentioned I've been crafting lately? Well first things first, there is a great challenge with FANTASTIC prizes to be won over here at Scrapping Across the Universe . They are also looking for new DT members, so what are you waitin' for? ;-) This is my layout for the current challenge (Who Am I)

Here are a few American Crafts lo's I pumped out this week too!
Summer 09. . .used the Polaroid Pogo to print these out since my reg. printer is out of ink! I love the size that the pogo prints are!

In the Air at the Fair

Happiness is being with you. . .

I also participated in a layout tag which was fun and an ATC swap, so I have been busy busy!

Today was an eventful day. . .we got to be supermodels for a day! By we I mean me and all four kiddos. A friend of mine works for Vera Bradley which is based in our city, and entered our pics for an upcoming shoot and they invited us to come! Modeling is hard work! Lol! I had to make sure my kiddos stayed clean and didn't mess up their hairdo's and chased my two year old little dude ALL OVER! It was supposed to be a picnic on a farm, so the girls got to play with week old goats, found a toad, pet baby bunnies, and saw sheep and donkeys. They were pretty much on cloud 9. Not to mention the fact that they got their hair done and even got to wear make-up (gasp!) and there were all kinds of snacks and drinks available for them! What a wonderful scrapbook page, eh?

Fun things that have caught my eye this week. . .
Her photos - One Love Photo. . .I just adore her pictures. They make me want to crawl inside the pic and be a part of the action! I especially love this one!

We bought this last week. . .

The girls loved making ice cream while playing games (like hot potato!), and I must say it really worked and was good ice cream! They chose Bubblegum flavor which you can find here. I love that you can take it anywhere to do this.

REally wanting to buy this!

suspectshoppe

So that's pretty much it for now! Hope you enjoyed the links. =)
xo

2009-07-14T18:44:00.006-04:00

It's quite possibly my favorite week of the summer. The Three Rivers Festival. It's kicked off with a parade, and then there is the chalk walk and the art fair, live bands and Junk Food Alley! Mmmm. Where else can you buy a fried snickers, elephant ear and mozz sticks and top it off with a ginormous soda? I usually weigh 5 lbs more at the end of the week, but it's one week of bliss. There is so much to do in the Fort the week of "TRF" as it's affectionately known. You can be a tourist in your own town and lots of fun things, but my faves are the art fair/chalk walk, the yummy food, the fun activities for kids throughout the week and the jazz under the stars while watching the fireworks.

So we have a fun rest of the week ahead of this. It officially feels like summer now. Today we decided to forego the pool and break out the slip-n-slide. I read somewhere that you can add dish soap to the slip n slide to make it lots faster, so I thought I'd be a cool mom and give it a shot. I didn't think about the negative things that can result from that. As I sat there awaiting the first "Yippee!!" from the kids as they shot down that yellow strip of plastic, instead I heard, "My eyes!! They're burning!" This was a domino effect from each child as they slid down the slip n slide. They got the suds in their eyes! So I guess I'm still not gonna get the mom of the year award, eh? ;-)

Check out this girl. . .she got some serious air! =)

I can't wait to show you the fun lo's and projects I have worked on, but I can't post any of them until they are revealed on their various websites. Haha. . .so soon you will see that I have made time for my fave past time. BTW. . .if you're interested in the funky diptych you can find it here. . .wonky photo mask, and the rounded photo masks can be found here. Hope you're all having a fantastic summer! I have binged on watermelon and canteloupe today! Off to eat dinner with the fam and go to the festival.
xo

2009-07-06T12:44:00.008-04:00

Whew! I've been away. . .so much to say. . . ;-) I had three photo shoots last week, so I have been editing like crazy. I had a wedding in Columbus Ohio where I got to spend time with my incredible family. Grandpa's, aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole sha-bang! First things first. . .

I want to thank this girlie, Lilith, for awarding me with this

It made me so happy!! So now for my fave five at the moment
Pam Garrison
Ally
Gigi
Stephanie Howell
Elizabeth Kartchner

Sooooooo. . .here is what I have been busy doing. . .

Baby C

Photoshoot with my own kiddos!

This WAY cute couple!

My cuz and his beautiful bride. . .

Having fun editing all these pics! In Columbus there is this mall that is my fave ever. It's called Easton and they have Anthro there!! Woot! I felt so giddy when I walked through that store. I looked at each and every tidbit. My hubs was soo patient! I picked up these little pretties, and drooled over this!
Also coveted this, walked away with this. =) On the craft front I have lots that I am working on and will post throughout the week. This post is already pic heavy! Hope my American friends had a wonderful 4th of July! =)
xo

2009-06-23T17:09:00.012-04:00

This is a little overdue, but Sunday was a big day in our house! We celebrated my husband's Grandma's 96th birthday, my brother's birthday and my son's birthday (he is officially 2!). Not to mention all of the father's who we honored. Whew! There was a lot of eating and family and fun times. It began with this fun idea I saw on Flickr. . .Cheeseburger cupcakes! Don't be fooled, they are not cheeseburgers - they are cupcakes that LOOK like cheeseburgers. My family loved them! I did a little searching to see how to make these and thought I would post a quickie tutorial here.
You begin by making vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes (brownies would work too). I had taken better pictures but then realized my memory card was not in my camera! Once you are finished baking the cupcakes (be sure to use lots of PAM to keep the cupcakes from sticking), let them cool and then cut the tops off of the vanilla and chocolate. You will need a sharp knife for this task. The tops of the vanilla cupcakes are your "bun topper" and the tops of the chocolate are your "patties"

You will need icing for your "lettuce, ketchup, and mustard". I found that the Betty Crocker icing was the easiest to work with. No squeezing bags required and it comes with the interchangeable tops. I used one that would make the icing kind of squiggly like lettuce.

You need only to put the icing on the outer edge of the cupcake bottom. . .see?

Put your pattie on and then add the "ketchup". Put it on the outer edges too and you can be a little more liberal with this to make it taste more yummy!

Next comes the "mustard"

And lastly. . .

Aren't they so cute? I added little toothpicks, but you could brush a little orange juice to the tops and sprinkle sesame seeds as I learned from one tutorial. I thought they were wonderful as is and they were a hit!
I put them on a platter and fooled my mother in law who thought we were eating sliders. =)

Here is the birthday boy. . .

My dh with little dude. He is an amazing daddy!

Lastly, I found some time to work on this lo, which was a lift from Maggie Holmes and inspired partly by Debee Campos who rocks the spraypaint!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating our husbands and fathers!

2009-06-17T21:52:00.006-04:00

I have been a crafting nut this week. I cannot get enough. There are weeks where I am lucky to work on one lo, but this week I have completely neglected my laundry (sorry you have no underwear, hon!) and have been just painting and collaging and making lo's like crazy. It kind of began with the Corey Moortgat book I mentioned in the previous post (link is in the prev. post too). Then I discovered this artist from this amazing artist's blog. One link leads to another and before too long I am screen sucking and just slobbering over all of the inspiring work I am seeing! I have never really experimented, so I just bought a water color pad and some mediums and have been trying new techniques. I also signed up for the collage class over at SIS and that has been fun too! I recommend it if you are unfamiliar with techniques like transfers and what all of the mediums are and what they do. It has been super helpful to me. These are the things that I've worked on so far. . .now I'm not crazy about how they've turned out, but I'm going to share them anyways because it's the process that I enjoy just as much if not more than the end result. Besides - I truly feel that with each one I've completed, I learned what to do or what not to do differently, so the mistakes really do help to get over that hump.

my first sad attempt

My second even sadder attempt

I kept trying to cover up mistakes so I just painted over them and then would make something else I didn't like. . .it must have like 15 layers of paper and writing and paint! Lol!

Getting better

My friend Deana is the guest DT over on the ad this challenge blog, and I think I may use this one for that challenge. You have to use 5 mediums, and I think I've accomplished that! I also used a label from a RAK I won on her blog. . .thanks girl! ;-)
It's inspired by the ad for Fresh Air campaign. Love the quote. . .kind of makes me teary eyed.

Used new magazine transfer technique from another inspiring mag ad.

So what has been inspiring you? Link me up!
Just so you don't think I am neglecting my kiddos while I craft - we have made some time for the pool. . .

Can you spot my serious sunbather? ;-)

Five for Friday!

2009-06-12T18:28:00.006-04:00

I've been a bit neglectful and only posting about once a week. That's because we are thoroughly enjoying our summer right now! We have been taking advantage of the sunny days to go to the pool. I don't know if this is a nationwide promo or not, but if it is you may want to know that Starbucks has iced coffees for $1.95!! I have been getting one a day for like two weeks! Hehheh! =) Here I was proud for spending only $3 for the iced mochas at McD's. It's for the grande size and you can get one flavor. I lurve me some caramel iced coffee!!

Here is what I am thankful for this week:

1. Don Chavez Mexican restaurant (a new find here in the Fort. . .yay for authentic Mexican!!)

2. Sleeping in. . .need I say more?

3. My kids being home. I love having them home - despite the fact that I have to referee numerous arguments throughout the day - I like to do crafts with them and play outside and run errands and make snowcones together.

4. $1.95 Starbucks Iced coffees (see above) ;-)

5. My new fire pit! Using it this weekend with our friends.

Here is what I have been working on this week. . .

a fun new lo using kitschy digitals and Sass Lass and other goodies! Oh yeah. . .and it is a lift from this lo!

Saw this thread on Decor 8 blog and was immed. inspired. I find these kind of paintings all of the time at garage sales for next to nothing. In fact, this was thrown in for free with another purchase I made at a garage sale! I love how it turned out. I white washed the frame. . .er. . .with teal that is, and reverse appliqued fun paper to the painting. Then I added a few tidbits all from Kenner Road kits

I found this artist while blog hopping one day - don't you love when that happens? I found the book on Amazon and have been so inspired by it! I love her journals for her boys. I would love to do something like that for my kids if I could find the extra time. It looks so whimsical and fun and messy. . .I love messy. =)
Okay don't laugh. . .but here is my take on one of her techniques. . . =)

So I did fit some crafting in this week afterall! Yay for time management! Lol. Oh yeah. . .and my house is clean! Woot!
So I'll leave some other goodies for another day, but for now - have a happy weekend!
xo

Drive By Post. . .

2009-06-04T11:54:00.006-04:00

Busy week! I had three photoshoots this week which was so much fun, but I have been doing edits like crazy! This has left little time to craft. =( So I don't have much to share on the craft front. It has been a fun week though! Yesterday we had a free meal at BWW's (Buffalo Wild WIngs) from dh's boss. All of his employees and their fams got to eat there courtesy of his boss. It was yumm! Then on the way home, we saw that Sonic had FREE rootbeer floats until midnight! We were so there. I whipped the van in line and the kiddos were a happy bunch. =) Tomorrow will include garage saleing and preparing for dd's 6th bday! The fruit toppers I think will be so cute! I'll be working on those today. We also bought a pool pass for the first summer since we've lived here. So we will be heading over there a lot this summer! I'll finally get to catch up on some reading I've wanted to do!

Challenge #16 is up over at Scrapping Across the Universe! This one is sponsored by Gudrun! Her papers are SO MUCH FUN! I'm telling ya. . .this is one challenge you won't want to miss. She was very generous with the papers she sent and they are a blast to play with! Here is my lo:

Here are a few samples of what I have been up to with the photoshoots. . .

my fave. . .

A few from the newborn shoot. . .

The pink piano was a garage sale find from last week. . .SCORE! haha! =)

xo

Hello, I'm Crafty

2009-05-28T12:55:00.003-04:00

This is what I worked on yesterday. . .

Here is the other side. . .

I took some inspiration from Gigi and her cute packaging art where she sews little bits and pieces with glitter. I also took my title from one of her lo's (Art Girl). I used left overs from a Kenner Road kit, and the badge holder is from a Dozens kit add on. It was fun to sit down and create (after spending mucho time getting our things put away from two weekends out of town!).

My youngest dd is having her 6th bday next week! So I have been brainstorming on her cake and goodies. She decided on cupcakes, so I had to get this. . .

seller: fanciefannies

Isn't she cute? I am thinking of making cupcake toppers using this kitschy digitals kit.
She loves the cherries and strawberries and I think they would make adorable toppers. I ordered a few things from Bake It Pretty (link in my sidebar). I got some edible glitter because she is allll about glitter (like mother like daughter!), and I purchased those magic candles that won't go out right away. Hehehh - I thought it would be fun to capture on the flip. Maybe I'll post the video here if she doesn't get screaming mad! Hoping it will be a nice day on her bday. We love to cook out and light the tiki torches and eat on the patio. She also likes to make smores with the firepit. I love this time of year. The girls have a half day tomorrow and then we're officially on summer break! Yay! =) Hope everyone is having a good week. I'll be back tomorrow with my 5 for Friday post! =)
xo

Eleven Years Ago Today. . .

2009-05-23T16:13:00.007-04:00

We said our "I do's", and I still have the warm fuzzies for you. ;-) Happy Anniversary sweets!! =)