Why yes, I should be doing something else. Ha!

A Walk Down Memory Lane DT Call!!!

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ooooh, scrappy folk! You gotta check out this DT call!

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We are so excited to announce that we are looking for 4 designers for our March 2012 – August 2012 team!! The call is open from January 20th through February 10th. We will be announcing the new design team on our blog and newsletter on February 15th.

So WHO are we looking for?

We are looking for inspiring designers who are creative, ambitious and who can design with our products from the store. We are looking for designers who can display the following:
- Open communication skills
- Unique individual style
- Individuals that can display flexibility, teamwork and cooperation
- Ability to display and teach different techniques
- Ability to create layouts from a basic to a more advanced skill level
- Creativity in the use of our products to help promote A Walk Down Memory Lane
- Ability to teach online classes and write up instructions, video tutorials are a plus!
- Must be able to work within deadlines and under pressure
- Copic Certified designer is a plus

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If this sounds like you, there's more info here on the AWDML blog.

Good luck! It's an amazing place to DT for!!! :)

Punky Sprouts!!

2012-01-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking there are quite a few of us out there who have either a December Daily album to finish or their Christmas photos to scrap...or both! And, it can be a bit of a challenge to get back into the holiday mood once you've taken down the tree and packed away all your Christmas decor.

This little banner is the answer to all that! It's the perfect, quick project to get you back in the holiday mood and scrappin' those holiday memories before all the sweet, little details evaporate into a fog of eggnog and gift wrap!

I created this using the leftover Teenie Beanie Sprout pages from last months banner. The letters were glittered using glitter paint with glitter poured over it while it was still wet. The banner is made of two Lil' Petals, trimmed and misted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

The canvas page was created by punching out some snowflakes and using them as a mask. It was then sprayed with two different colors of mist, a brown and a red. The trim was attached to the top and the bottom of the page using Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

This last page is my favorite! I just love how it turned out! I covered it with Jillibean Soup paper like the J page and then inked the edges. Along the top, I basted across a Lil' Stem, bunched it up and glued it to the top of my page. Along the bottom, I adhered some of the new Lil' Blossoms, folded randomly. I love the little ruffle it creates!

I hope this little project gets you back in the mood to finish up your Christmas scrapping! Thanks for stopping by!

AWDML January Featured Manufacturers!

2012-01-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

This month, the Featured Manufacturers over at A Walk Down Memory Lane are Authentique and Paper Smooches!

Here are a few layouts I made using Authentique!
And, some fun Paper Smooches projects! I haven't used their stamps before and I loved them! Super cute stuff!

Remember, all Authentique and Paper Smooches products are 25% off this month. Happy shopping! :)

Project Life-Week 2!

2012-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Week 2 of Project Life! And, my first week with an insert. I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough photos this week and ended up with too many! Even with forgetting to upload half of one day!
Here's the first page. Pretty simple stuff. I've been trimming journaling cards and using just part of them for my Instagram photos, and I used part of a card on some of the 4x6 piece I cut out of the coordinating Clementine cardstock I bought. So glad I got that now! I've got another fold out card with a washi tape tag on here. This may be a recurring item on my spreads. We'll see! :)

Next we have the insert. I just grabbed a 6x12 divided page protector that I have. It holds three 4x6 photos on each side. I put a tab that I got at Fred Meyer on the insert. It's from K&Co's Smash line. There were six different styles and they all match Clementine! It's fate, I tell ya! ;)

The back side of the insert has more goodies and I finally used the little orange arrows. I honestly didn't really like them when I first got my kit and thought I'll never use those. Hee! Now, I think they'll be great for dividing up a journaling card, I also used different colors of ink. I'm thinking of getting another of each of those pens (they are called LePen and are like $1.70 each) and keeping them with my PL stash. As soon as I get my stash a little more set up and organized, I'll share it in a post here. :)

And, the last page. More everyday photos, a picture that Audrey colored at my gym's Kid Watch and a photo of the front door of my favorite stamp store. It's going out of business and my mom and I shopped their sale this last weekend. :( I'm going to miss them!

The bottom right card talks a bit about my diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and how I feel about it. I'll most likely share more about that in another post.

I hope you all are enjoying Project Life as much as I am! :)

Project Life-Week 1!

2012-01-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, let's start this off by saying, I love Project Life! This is seriously fun! Here's my Week 1 spread.
The far left card in the middle row is a folded card that has journaling about our life and funny things the kids have said on it. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep that as is, or add some of the hidden journaling to the second page. I've got the tag from a pair of workout pants I bought that I just adore on here. It's so rare to find pants (other than jeans) that are truly long enough! Totally needed recording! LOL!

This page has a little piece of artwork that Mickey made for me. LOVE!!! I also included some of the packaging from Aud's new dollhouse accessories. :) I backed it with a card and journaled a little on the part that was showing. The card on the bottom left is blank and I may add the extra journaling from the first page on it.

To help keep me on track with this, I started a file on my desktop title PL Week 1. Then, as I uploaded photos, I'd pick out the one(s) that I might want to use and edit them and either save them as 4x6's or add them to my templates and save them as a smaller size. Then, on Sunday evening, I edit the rest of my photos and order them from Costco. After I drop Mickey off at preschool on Monday, Aud and I zip over to Costco and pick up the pictures. I've made a few grocery changes and now I get some of our perishables at Costco so it works out well to make a trip a week.

I really like how this has made me take out my big camera a little more. I only used one Instagram on this and it's sized 3x3 and then backed with a journaling card. Love that look! :)

I also set up a little tray by my bedside that holds my Project Life box and a 5 or 6 rolls of washi tape that coordinate. I tuck little mementos (receipts, tags, etc) in there and larger ones (Mickeys artwork, for example) just gets tucked between the pages of the week it will be added to. Once I get my hot mess of a scrap room in order, I'll hopefully find a better place for my PL station but it's working all right for me now. :)

Oh, I almost forgot, journaling! I've been jotting notes down in a calendar by my bed, on the notes app on my iPhone and using Twitter and Facebook to record (and share) fun little bits as well. I'm not dating most of this as having it in the right week is darn good enough for me! I hand wrote my dates and my journaling, this will keep it super easy for me. Wrestling with my computer to get it to print right where I want it is soooooo not my idea of a good time.

Well, that's all I've got for my first week of Project Life. I'm hoping to share my pages on either Tuesday's or Wednesday's. I hope you all are having as much fun with this project as I am! :)

Project Life-My Title Page

2012-01-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

Just poppin' in to share my title page for Project Life. :)

I'm ordering my photos for week one right now!

How's your Project Life coming?

Top 10 Layouts of 2011

2012-01-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite layouts of 2011. :)

Project Life!

2011-12-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

So, I've done it! I ordered Project Life. All I got was the Clementine cards (Core Kit) and the Clementine cardstock. The cardstock's actually just for me to scrap with because I LOVE the colors! LOL! I will be ordering the A style page protectors but they are out of stock right now.

In the meantime, I'll make do by using my divided page protectors that hold six horizontal 4x6's. In the center row, I'll tuck the 2x3 pieces in side There's a rumor that the Design A Pages will be back in stock sometime in January so hopefully, I'll only have a few weeks to go like that.

The album I'll be using is the American Crafts 12x12 DRing Album in Black. I'm really hopeful that this project will be within my abilities to maintain. My biggest concern is that I'll fall so far behind on ordering pictures it will make me give up on the rest. So, to help make the photo ordering process easier, I've come up with this.

Okay, I know it looks like a big black rectangle floating in midair but it's actually a 4x6 horizontal white rectangle with two black 2 7/8" x 4" vertical "openings". LOL! I've got it saved as a .psd on my desktop so whenever I need to create the smaller Project Life size photos it will be a lot quicker and easier. :) It will also enable me to order the much cheaper 4x6's instead. Two for the price of one! Yay!!! The reason I didn't move them to the edges to fill up that extra 1/4 of space is because my Costco doesn't print true 4x6 photos. They're a bit short of 6" so I left white space on either side so my photos don't get cropped.

I've been reading a lot of the posts out there on Project Life and I've compiled tons of tips on what to do when you haven't quite got enough photos/ephemera to fill up a week, how/where to take notes, scheduling time to do your weekly layouts, all sorts of great stuff. I've got like four pages of stuff copied. I printed it out, two pages per sheet, and I'm going to put it in the front of my album in an 8 1/2 x 11 page protector so it's always handy when I need help.

Here are a few links to my favorite posts about Project Life.

Lisa Truesdell - Great tips on filling in when the week is light.

Studio Calico - They've got an entire section of their message board dedicated to PL!

Marcy Penner - She's got awesome post on Photos, Ephemera and Notetaking, Supplies, Putting it Together, and Everything Else.

Michelle Wooderson - How to catch up if you get behind.

Oh, and if you want a copy of my template, just leave a comment below with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you. If you'd like, feel free to click that follow button on the right, too! ;)

Christmas Album 2011-Day 25~Part 3!

2011-12-29T11:15:00.000-08:00

Our final Christmas event was held at my mom's house. We arrived there a bit after five. Audrey fell asleep on the ride over and stayed asleep as I carried her into the house. I sat down with her and she slept...all through the meal! My mom wound up making me up a plate and I ate it while holding her. They asked if I wanted to lay her down on a bed but I declined. I only have a few years of holding my sleeping kids and I cherish each minute!

Once my step-brother and his kids arrived, we moved into the living room to open presents. Aud had woken up by then and she and Mickey were really excited to see their cousins! And then, the present madness began! Aud got a new quilt for her bed, an antique desk, a stuffed dog, some money and lots of other fun goodies! Mickey got a new Batman shirt, a DVD, some money, a Leap Pad with games and lots of other fun goodies! I got some longer plates for my Cuttlebug, a craft book, some money, and other goodies. Andrew got a golfing book, some money and other fun goodies.

The funniest moment of the night was when Audrey starting saying, "I spill. I spill, Mama.". AS she wasn't holding anything I had no idea what she was talking about until I noticed some drops running down her leg. Ooops! Her diaper had shifted and she'd had an accident on my folks antique rug! Fortunately, they thought that it was funny and Andrew changed her while I cleaned up the mess.

We headed home and got the kids to bed and were so glad that our Christmas adventures were done! In fact, three out of four of us wore jammies all day on the 26th and Andrew only got dressed in the afternoon to go over to a friend's house for a few hours. He changed into sweats as soon as he got back. Ha!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday!!!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 25~Part 2!

2011-12-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

Next on our Christmas agenda was Christmas with Andrew's side of the family. We arrived at Andrew's sister Kathy's house a little after one. We had a great time eating and chatting. Mickey and Audrey were a little shy at first but once Karly and Claire started playing with them, they warmed right up!

Mickey got a travel sized Connect Four game and a little bag of goodies from his Grandma and Grandpa Hettwer (with a little help from Aunt Kathy) and a John Deere tractor and a Bumblebee Transformer from Anthony who had his name. Audrey got a mini butterfly Pillow Pet and a bag of goodies from Grandma and Grandpa Hettwer. Lauren had her name and got her a black and white Furreal Pet cat. Claire was showing her how to make it move and purr by tapping it's back and Aud started to punch it in the back. LOL! We then showed her that just petting it gently would work.

Andrew got a nice pair of slacks from his gift exchange gifter. Kathy had my name and she got me a big tin filled with Diet Mt Dew, Kettle Corn, candy and a gift card to the local movie theater! Whoo-hoo! I'm totally using that bad boy!

I was a little distracted trying to get the kids to warm up and by the adorable baby that was there! My nephew and his wife have a beautiful five month old baby girl named Paige and I was all over she. She is sooooo sweet! Anyway, I didn't take a single picture! Yikes!

Mickey's favorite toy was his Transformers Bumblebee. He'd been pretty disappointed that Santa didn't get it for him so Santa was fairly relieved that Mickey got that. Heh!

Aud was getting pretty tired by then so she like her toys but her favorite thing was the cookies that Aunt Kathy had made. I'm pretty sure she ate at least ten of them!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 25~Part 1!

2011-12-25T10:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning!

Aud climbed in bed with us around seven and about eight, I heard Mickey holler, "Mom, Mom!". I opened his bed room door and he sleepily said, "I don't think I can go to sleep, Mom.". Hee! I told him that it was morning and he should get up and go potty so we could open stockings and he says. "Oh!" and clambers out of bed. Too funny!

We all went into the living room and I asked Mickey if Santa had come. He said yes and I asked him how he knew. I was trying to get him to notice that the cookies and milk were gone. Instead, he says, "There are presents and stuff in the stockings!". When I pointed out that the cookies were gone, he exclaimed, "He ate them!".

The kids then started in on their stockings. They both got lip balms, airplane candy and water colors. Mickey got a bunch of Cars goodies and Aud got a Dora toy and some hair stuff and slippers. We had to make her open the rest of her stocking once she saw the Dora stuff because that's all she was interested in.

After their stockings, they opened their Santa presents. Santa gave them joint gifts this year. They got a Christmas book to add to their collection and a Play-do game. They both love Play-do so they were pretty excited about it. Mickey's figured out that the numbers on the toys tell you what ages they are for and was pretty excited that the game was for age 5. Hee!

After that, Andrew and I opened our stockings. He got tweezers, flashlights and pepperoni. I got running socks, some scrap stuff, hair bands and nail polish. Since I had let Andrew off the hook completely this year with gift buying, I had him start breakfast. He fried up some bacon and eggs and I scrambled some eggs for the kids and made some toast.

Once we finished breakfast we opened our family gifts. Audrey got Mickey two Angry Bird stuffed animals and Mickey got Audrey a doll and a Disney princess action figure. I got Andrew a bowling pin, Audrey got him a Seahawks calendar and Mickey got him some binoculars. Andrew got me some jammies and the kiddos got me some grey faux Uggs.

We got Mickey a bunch of matchbox cars and puzzle, some toy tools, and a bunch of Cars 2 cars along with a Lightening McQueen stocking cap that my mom's cousin's friend knitted for me. Oh, and we got him some Cars 2 walkie talkies. Audrey got two dollies, an OSU shirt and a dollhouse! Yeah, she was pretty stoked about that. It's all she plays with when we are at Mickey's preschool. :)

We finished up at ten and Andrew and I decided that we're going to reserve Christmas morning (before noon) for just the four of us. Next up, we've got Andrew's family at one and then my Mom's side at five.

Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas!!!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 24

2011-12-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve!!! :)

Today we finally got some cookies made! We made Christmas Crack, Peppermint Bark, and Chocolate Chip cookies. The kids helped out and loved it. The especially loved getting to lick the beater. ;) While I was doing the grown up parts, they watched a bunch of Charlie Brown holiday DVD's that Uncle Doug gave us. They were cracking up in the living room!

After that we had to start getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner. We put the ham in the oven and the yummy smells started to fill up the house really quickly. My brother and my dad showed up and then we ate dinner. We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn bread and salad. And then, we had Christmas cookies for dessert.

After dinner, we got down to the good stuff...presents!!! I got a Michael's gift card and some books from my brother and running capris, a scrapbooking book, and some calendars from my dad. Andrew got a rake, tools, and a calendar.

Audrey got a huge stuffed bean bag horse, a piggy bank and a bag of coloring goodies from Uncle Cody. Papa Maow bought her two dresses, a pair of sparkly shoes, a princess crown with matching ring and earrings, a baby doll, a Dora the Explorer Pillow Pet and a tiny butterfly Pillow Pet. She put on the shoes, crown and jewels right away. They were hands down her favorite gift of the night. She even slept with her shoes on!!!

Mickey got a remote control Cars 2 car, a piggy bank and a bag of coloring goodies from Uncle Cody. Papa Maow got him a cool jacket, a batman shirt, a remote control Hummer, a Lightening McQueen Pillow Pet and tiny panda Pillow Pet. His favorite gift was the remote control Cars 2 car. He loves that thing!

The kids also each got a set of p.j.'s from Andrew and me. Mickey got Spiderman ones and Audrey got Disney Princess ones.

After Dad and Cody left, we got them dressed in their new jammies, set out some milk and cookies for Santa and put them to bed. I tidied up a bit, and then went to bed.

A couple of funnies. When Audrey was helping bring in the gifts in, she wanted to put them all in her room. I told her that she could as soon as she opened hers. The first gift she opened was her Dora Pillow Pet. She exclaimed, "Dora!" and then, "I go put in my room!" and bolted for her bedroom. We all busted up laughing.

This year, Dad labeled some of his gifts to the kids as "from Howdy" (his dog). So Mickey told me that next year we should have Lilly give one of her bones to Howdy. We grabbed one of the now empty Christmas bags, Mickey put one of Lilly's bones in it and he gave it to Papa Maow telling him it was from Lilly for Howdy. Dad called that night to say that Howdy loved it and was outside burying it.

Christmas Album 2011-Day 23

2011-12-24T00:48:00.001-08:00

Today was super productive! The kiddos wrapped their presents for each other and we got all the Christmas wrapping stuff put away. It's so nice to not have to do that until two in the morning Christmas Eve...not that I've ever done that before. ;)

After that, we started decorating the tree. The kids had a blast putting all the ornaments up. Well, not all of them. I dug out my fun kid themed ones from my days at Hallmark. We've got Cat in the Hat, Scooby Doo, and the Peanuts gang up on our tree!

Next up, we got some fun lights up in the kids rooms. Mickey got some fun red and green candy looking ones. Aud got blinking white snowflakes! We then talked Andrew into bringing our second tree into the house and getting it in it's stand. We put that little guy into Mickey's room. He was over the moon excited! We got some lights on it and then the kids decorated it too. Well, Mickey decorated it, Aud decorated one branch. She put every ornament on that branch. Hee!

With all the decorating done, I got all the boxes stacked in the garage and started cleaning. Mickey helped out by vacuuming and Lilly helped out by barking like a maniac at the vacuum. I still have more cleaning to do tomorrow and cookie making that needs to get done, too. Hope you all are having a great holiday season!

My favorite part~Getting those boxes out of the house!

Mickey's favorite part~Getting a tree in his room!

Aud's favorite part~Getting a piece of Peppermint Bark for desert

Our holiday event~Trimming the tree!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 22

2011-12-22T23:58:00.000-08:00

This morning we took Lilly to the vet. (I remembered!) She got her stitches out and her ears checked. She also got weighed, she's a whopping 48.8 lbs! :) There was a six month old Lab in the waiting area and they were pretty interested in each other. It was pretty easy to see the differences in between our Lilly's temperament and that of a Lab the same age. Lab's are spazzes for the first 2-3 years and our Lilly is fairly mellow. Love her!

When we got home I made the kids a snack and then did some computer stuff. After that, Mickey and I got started on his room! We got it all cleaned up and vacuumed. He loves it when his room is clean but as he's five, he has a hard time keeping it that way. We took a cleaning break once his room was done and had lunch.

Then, we started in on Aud's room. She helped a tiny bit and Mickey helped for the first half but other than that it was me. I moved a few things around for her and vacuumed, too. Right after we finished, my Dad showed up for a haircut. The kids were really excited to see him and he actually had to wait to get his hair cut because the kids really love playing with him.

After Dad left, the kids and I worked on wrapping the rest of the gifts. Mickey wrote the names of who it was to and Audrey was on bow duty. We got it all done and then I got their dinner ready a bit early. Because, when Andrew came home, the three of the took off to see Andrew's friend Ron.

While they were gone, I got the kids' gifts ready. Santa gifts wrapped in special paper, stocking gifts organized and tucked into bags, and their gifts from us wrapped as well. Then, I put the lights on the tree. I thought about getting ornaments on too but left that for the kids tomorrow. I also got the photos from Mickey's preschool ready for Christmas gifts and made a list of last minute things I needed to get at Fred Meyer.

Because, once Andrew and the kids got back, I zipped into town. I had a few extra gifts to get, some stocking stuffers and I needed to get gifts for the kids to give each other. Oh, and a ham and some cookie ingredients. You know, the important stuff. ;) When I got back, I wrapped the two extra gifts and got them under the tree with the rest of the gifts.

My favorite part of today~Getting the gifts wrapped.

Mickey's favorite part~

Audrey's favorite part~

Our holiday event~Wrapping gifts!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 21

2011-12-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

Our first big event of the day was taking the kids to my mom's house to decorate cookies! They were really excited to do this and even more excited when I told them that two of their cousins would be there, too!

I was super excited because I got to go to the movies with my Uncle Doug and my brother, Cody! They are seriously the best people to go to the movies with. We saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and it was awesome! Very hardcore but very awesome!

After the movie, I picked up the kids and took Aaron and Ellie with me! We all played outside for a while because Aaron was practicing basketball. One of my neighbors stopped by and we chatted for quite a while. Then, I dragged the Christmas tree into the house! Yeah, only four days before Christmas! LOL! Unfortunately, I was supposed to be taking Lilly to the vet at 4:30 and totally spaced it! Fortunately, they were able to reschedule for tomorrow morning. She's getting her stitches removed and her ears checked.

After Brian picked up his kids, I made dinner and Andrew straightened the tree. Hee! Mickey put in some Christmas movies too. I then asked the kids if they'd like to help me wrap gifts and so we did. We've only got one more group to go! Oh, and I need to wrap their gifts, too. We read a couple Christmas stories and tucked the kids in. Aud was wiped out and fell asleep on the living room floor while I was reading.

My favorite part of the day~The movie!!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Decorating cookies

Audrey's favorite part of the day~Playing with Ellie

Our holiday event~Bringing in the tree!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 20

2011-12-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

Today started slow but after lunch we got into the holiday swing of things. We got started wrapping gifts and got the presents for my Mom's Christmas wrapped. Mickey wrote the names and Audrey picked out the bows. We also got a start on making Christmas cookies. There are now two pounds of Oreo Peppermint Bark in our fridge. :)

I dug almost all the rest of the Christmas boxes and the Christmas tree stands out of the shop. Tomorrow's goal is to get those trees in the house! I gotta say, digging stuff out of the shop after dark feels a lot safer with our Lilly around. She's a barker! :)

I gave the kiddos a bath and they had a blast as I let them stay in forever! LOL! After bath time, we read a couple of the Christmas books and then I tucked them in bed.

My favorite part of today~Feeling like I was actually getting some stuff crossed off my list

Mickey's favorite part~Making Peppermint Bark

Aud's favorite part~Pep-mint!!!!

Our holiday event~Wrapping gifts!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 19

2011-12-19T22:52:00.000-08:00

Today was much more productive than yesterday! We didn't make it to the gym but we're hoping to tomorrow. We got to Costco and picked up Papa Maow's Christmas Cards, the kids were bummed that the snacks weren't quite set up yet so we grabbed some Pirate's Booty to much on, on the ride home. ;)

My dad met us at home and we unloaded the car and gave him his cards. He loved them! I made mac-n-cheese for the kids lunch (we'd picked up milk at Costco because the cupboards were soooooo bare, hence the pizza last night!) and then made some phone calls. Andrew, my mom and the phone company because my internet went out...again and the phone was still staticky. The repair guy came out and fixed the internet and told me that I needed to schedule an appointment so that someone can come out and crawl under the house and check the wires.

Lilly barked at him almost the entire time he was there. Good dog. ;)

After he left, we made up a grocery list to refill the cupboards and then I made a list of ingredients we'd need to make Christmas cookies. I'm hoping we can get to that tomorrow! We zipped into Fred Meyer and the kids got to go to Playland, they love that place.

After we got home, I made dinner. Mickey wanted tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches so that's what we had! Andrew came home about an hour after dinner, completely wiped out and then my step-brother stopped by to drop off some berries.

My favorite part of today~Remembering to get stamps at the store!

Mickey's favorite part of today~Playland!

Audrey's favorite part of today~Playland~

Our holiday event~Getting my Christmas cards ready for mailing! Yay!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 18

2011-12-19T22:44:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to get out of the house and run some errands today but it just didn't happen. I'm not too used to going out late, I guess. LOL! We pretty much just lazed around, cleaning up random stuff and playing with the kids.

Andrew's friend came over to watch football. After a while he left to go pick up his two youngest daughters, for which Mickey and Audrey were really glad. The four of them have a blast together! We ordered pizza for dinner and had it delivered and again, the kids were thrilled!

Right before they left the kids started playing with Mickey's bowling stuff and it was soooo funny! They were giggling and missing and Audrey was cheering everyone on from the hearth. So funny! Mickey and Audrey ended up sleeping in the living room together. It's so sweet how much they love each other! <3

My favorite part of the day~Not having to cook!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Morgan coming over

Audrey's favorite part of the day~Mia coming over

Our holiday event~The advent calendar is going to have to count for today!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 17

2011-12-18T13:35:00.001-08:00

Today was about getting those Christmas cards started. I got a pretty good start on them just need to gather up a few addresses. One of these years I'm going to get my act together and have a master Christmas card list with all the names and addresses in one place.

Other than that we didn't do much during the day. Andrew was still resting and in the afternoon took Mickey to go bowling with a friend of his. They had a good time and Mickey got a 95!

My cousin texted me later to see if I wanted to have a little girls night out at the local bar and so Andrew took the kids to watch football at his friend's and I had a grown up night out! Yay!!!

My favorite part of the day~Getting out as a grown up!

Mickey's favorite part~Bowling

Audrey's favorite part~Playing with Mia while daddy watched football.

Christmas Album 2011-Day 16

2011-12-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Today was Mickey's Christmas program at the preschool! I got the kids all dressed up and then off we went to preschool. We had to bring a gift for a mom and one for a dad and one for a boy in the class. We also had to bring ten dimes for the kids to use to buy their mom and dad a gift.

One of the other mom's and I ran the store, it was sooooo fun! Mickey went first so I had to wait outside until he was done, then I helped the other mom's daughter, after that we helped the other kids together and it was a blast! The thought process that goes on in the 4-5 year old mind as they pick out presents...so funny! Some of them just grabbed the first things they saw, other reasoned out the perfect gifts and some needed quite a bit of help.

Mickey wanted to help so we had the kids count out money to him and then he was the "bag boy" and carried their "purchases" down the hall to the gift wrap room. When the first kid put money in his hand, he said, "I'm making money!" Ha!!!! That kid, such a crack up!

Once we had the gifts all picked out, I helped in the gift wrap room for a while and then we headed upstairs while the kids had their snacks. The kids then came upstairs and started singing their songs for us. Andrew, my mom and step-dad, and Claire (my niece) came to watch and there were quite a few extra family members for the other kids, too. Mickey was right in the middle and about two songs in, he started crying. There were a ton of people this time around and it was just too much for him. Two more kids had a tough time with it too.

Audrey, however, had no issues and she stood right in line with the rest of Mickey's classmates. She was dancing and pretending that she knew the words. Sigh. That kid is soooo ready for preschool! Mickey wound up standing right next to me at the end of the line. Once the songs were over, I was able to persuade him to go with the rest of the kids and sit around the tree.

Their preschool teacher started talking about Christmas and then shortly after that, Santa came! Mickey looked at me and said, "I don't want to sit on his lap!". Again, Aud had no issues at all. She was the second or third one up there. Eventually, Mickey did talk to Santa and accepted his candy cane and teacher gift. Poor guy. Then, all the kids exchanged gifts and opened them and we left.

Claire came home with us and played with the kids for a couple hours. Then, we had dinner and played some more. After that, Aud fell asleep on the big chair with Daddy and I put Mickey to bed. He's currently laying at the foot of my bed telling me he can't sleep so we're watching "Elf".

My favorite part of today~Working the "store"!

Mickey's favorite part of today~His preschool party.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Santa!!!

Our holiday event~Mickey's Christmas party.

Christmas Album 2011-Day 15

2011-12-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, some relief! Yay! I had a super bad headache this morning but right around lunch time, the antibiotics kicked in. My dad came over to watch the kids again! Thanks Dad!

I took Andrew in for a quick doctor's appointment. When we got back the kids and I zipped over to my mom's to pick up our Christmas Cards, side note~I love them!, and then had lunch together at Godfather's. As an elderly couple was leaving, the gentleman stopped and said how nice it was to see two children so well behaved in a restaurant! It was so nice of him to say that! After that, we stopped on Freddy's to get some snacks for Andrew.

Then, I took pics of some scrappy projects while there was still light and then the kids and I headed back out again. We hit Dollar Tree first and I let the kids each pick out something. Mickey got a semi truck and Audrey was going to replace her "magic" (a wand that lights up on one end) but at the check out stand fell hard for some lemonade flavored princess lip balm. We then head to Oregon City to check out their Dollar Tree and then to Michael's, where I bought more than I was there for...as usual!

Aud fell asleep on the ride home and slept for quite a while. Mickey and I had dinner and then wrapped his present for his Christmas preschool party and got the rest of his preschool stuff ready. We watched White Christmas and later, Aud woke up and joined us. At bedtime, Charlie Brown Christmas came on so I demanded that they stay up and watch with me. ;) They did. We had popcorn!

My headache is back a bit but instead of the gremlin inside my head having a pick axe, he's swinging at my right eye with a whiffle ball bat. I'll take it. :)

My favorite part of today~White Christmas! I love that movie and it was my first time seeing it this year!

Mickey's favorite part of today~Lunch at Godfather's. Pizza, breadsticks, and video games!

Audrey's favorite part of today~Lip stuff!

Our holiday event~Christmas movies, getting ready for the preschool party and picking up my cards!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 14

2011-12-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Uhg, today was hard! My headache got worse, not better and it takes a few days for the antibiotics to kick in. Dislike!

Mickey had preschool today and he was so excited to find out that one of his best friend's was wearing an almost identical shirt. After preschool, my dad came back over and I took his Christmas card picture with the kids.

Once Andrew got home though, it was straight back to the bathtub. I really hope that this clears up soon because I'm sooooo tired of this. Our tree's not up yet, I haven't added any more decor to the house and I haven't done any Christmas crafts with the kids. I feel like I have the Grinch inside my head pounding on my right eye with a hammer! LOL!

I did get my second round of pics from scrapbookpictures.com and I did a little work until my head got in the way again. Oh, and I couldn't pick up my cards from my mom's but she said that they turned out cute! Yay! :)

My favorite part of today~Ahhhh, the bathtub!

Mickey's favorite part of today~Preschool!

Audrey's favorite part of today~Getting to ride her trike out front with Papa Maow

Christmas Album 2011-Day 13

2011-12-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

Wow! This entry is a day late because I officially have a sinus infection and well, my head hurts so bad I couldn't type last night. So not fun.

This morning, we finally got our heat fixed! It took a couple hours but they finally got the parts replaced and the heat back on! Yay!!! It feels soooooo good to have heat again!

After lunch my dad came over and watched the kiddos while I went to the doctor. He hooked me up with a prescription for my sinusitis.

Later in the afternoon I took the kids into town and we picked up my prescription and got some little gifts for the kids' Hettwer cousins. I'm helping make up some little gift bags for them so I guess my Christmas shopping isn't finished after all. ;)

Andrew came home for dinner and then left for bowling league. The kiddos and I hung out for a while and then after they went to bed, I hit the tub to try to help my head.

My favorite part of today~Getting the heat fixed!

Mickey's favorite part of today~Playing with Papa Maow

Audrey's favorite part of today~Papa Maow

Christmas Album 2011-Day 12

2011-12-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a comedy of errors in regards to getting our furnace fixed. Long (annoying) story short, no heat.

In the morning we dropped our Lilly off to get spayed and micro chipped. The vet also found a bunch of gunk in her ears and so had to clean those out while she was under, too.

Mickey had preschool and Audrey really wanted to stay. I was tempted to stay with her because it was warm there but really needed to do some scrapping at home and to be available should the furnace folks get their act together.

When we picked Mickey up, he was very disappointed to discover that Lilly wasn't back yet. He loves that dog! So, to placate him, I dug out another Christmas box from the shop. It was all I could manage though because my stupid head still hurts. :(

We got Lilly late in the day and hung out at the vet's for a bit chatting. I really love my small town because you have actual relationships with your vet, your dentist, your doctor, etc. It was so late when we picked Lilly up that Mickey actually saw Andrew drive by the vet's on his way home. Our vet is about a mile or so away from our house, very convenient for us! ;)

After dinner, Andrew took Mickey and went to a friend's house to watch football. Miss Thing and I were going to go out and get a stamp for my project (it's a Punky Sprouts banner and sooooo cute!!!) but I didn't want to leave Lilly so I figured out something else.

My favorite part of the day~Finishing up my Punky Sprouts project!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Going to school!

Audrey's favorite part~Picking up Lilly

Our holiday event~Sadly, getting out the one box was all the holiday we had today! LOL!!! *****Oooooh, wait!!! I almost forgot, I got my Christmas cards ordered! That totally counts! Hee! I can't wait to get them, they match my Christmas Album's color scheme, too! ;)******

Christmas Album 2011-Day 11

2011-12-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

Another day of a chilly house around here! We did brave the elements in the afternoon and went over to our friend Lamont's house to get a tree though! We found a good tree for us and then we found the perfect little tree for the kiddos!

We haven't decorated it yet as it's just no fun to decorate in a cold house. If the part is available tomorrow, we'll get started on that then.

Other than that, we really didn't do much around here. It's just so cold in the rest of the house that we snacked and napped and played in our room. Andrew toughed it out in the living room so he could watch sports and Gold Rush all day. LOL! We had a Scooby Doo marathon and the kids would go check on Daddy quite a bit, especially Audrey. That girl does not seem to feel the cold!

My favorite part of the day~Finding a super cute tree for the kids.

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Getting a tree.

Aud's favorite part~Tree!

Our holiday event~Finally getting our tree! Hee!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 10

2011-12-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Today can be summed up in just one word....Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

The furnace is truly broken and it's cold in here! Once the repair guy showed up, I decided that I'd had enough of hanging out in a 56 degree house and took the kids to lunch. We went to Denny's and had hot cocoa's and yummy, warm food! We stopped at Fred Meyer and I finally got some sinus headache medicine. It really helps!

The repair guy needs a part to fix our furnace and it may or may not be in on Monday. So, we decided to get a space heater and just hang out in the master bedroom until the furnace is fixed. Aud fell asleep on the ride home so we tucked her in, Andrew & Mickey hooked up the heater and then the two of them went to Lamont's. I stayed with sleeping Aud and got the room set up for the next day or two.

Once the guys got home, I ran back into town to get some foods that are a little bit easier for the kids to eat in our bedroom without spilling. It's actually not too bad in here. It's a very large room and the kids and I already treat it as our family room. They've got a train table, toy kitchen and craft table in here! I've got a little scrapping area set up using the bed and the top of the dog's crate and Andrew, well, Andrew has the TV. LOL!

The kids are watching Scooby Doo right now and eating popcorn mixed with candy corn and Andrew is snoring on the floor. Hee!

My favorite part of today~Getting a space heater!!! I hate being cold!

Mickey's favorite part of today~Hot chocolate at Denny's to warm us up!

Audrey's favorite part of today~Popcorn and candy corn while watching a movie before bed.

Our holiday event~We were going to get our tree today but it was preempted by trying to get warm.

Day 9 Advent

Day 10 Advent

I'm hoping to get Day 5 of my Christmas Album done tomorrow and then I'll photograph the first five days and share them! :)

AWDML-12 Days of Christmas!!! Day 10

2011-12-10T04:10:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, it's Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas at A Walk Down Memory Lane.

Today's project is a great way to up to upcycle empty plastic containers as treat containers for your friends and family.
I started with an empty, clean frosting container and goodies from the Peppermint line from Crate Paper.
I cut a piece of Wintergreen paper to fit around my container and adhered it using Zip Dry adhesive. To keep it from unrolling while it was drying, I wrapped some rubber bands around it and let it set for a while.

I cut some strips of Mint paper and border punched them and then adhered them to the top and bottom of the container. On the top, I stacked a scalloped circle punched from Mint, a chipboard sticker and a brad and adhered them using foam adhesive.
On the front I stacked a punched scalloped circle (Snow Globe), a punched snowflake (Mint) and a label sticker with foam adhesive.
I also wrapped a bit of red and white twine around the bottom of the container for a little extra touch.

All you need to do is fill it with some holiday sweets and gift it to your loved ones!
Now, for the fun stuff!
On the tenth day of Christmas, A Walk Down Memory Lane gave to me......
All stamps for 35% off!!!!

12 Days of Christmas fine print…Remember, you can place multiple orders in during the 12 Days of Christmas. You do need to check out each day though as the special prices will not be saved in your cart. If you order during the sale, they will combine the orders and the shipping costs (yay!) on the 13th after the sale is over.

Christmas Album 2011-Day 8

2011-12-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

Today I realized that maybe four miles at the gym and running errands for myself and two other people wasn't quite the best idea. I'm sick...again. Blech! (In fact, I was so wasted by the end of the day that I didn't even blog, which is why this is late.)

We didn't leave the house until very late today. I was just so blah that I really didn't start to hustle until the sun came out about eleven. I fed the kids, dressed them in their nice clothes and then, Christmas Card pics!

For the next half hour, I did my best to take pics of the kids. Mickey was a dream. Smiled, looked at the camera, suggested poses, did what I asked him...sigh, he's awesome! Aud, was a two year old. Heh! She'd smile, but not look at the camera. Look at the camera, but not smile. Smile and look at the camera...with her finger in her nose. Arggggg! Over 350 pics later, I finally had about two dozen decent ones to choose from. Here's some of the best shots.

My professional model. Love him!

She was soooooo hard to shoot. I love her hair in this pic. :)

The most likely official Christmas card photo. Thank goodness they get along so well or else this would have been even harder than it was. ;) After photos, I was wiped out and took a nap. Then, we just lazed around until I realized that we needed something for dinner. So, we zipped into town, drove through McD's and then ate dinner while checking out more Christmas lights.

My favorite part of today~Editing the pics and realizing that I did get some good ones out of all that work. :)

Mickey's favorite part of today~Ack! I can't remember. I know I asked him, but I can't think of what it was. Oh, wait. I think it was driving around looking at lights. :)

Aud's favorite part of today~Princess!!! (That's what she says when she gets to wear a dress.)

Our holiday event~Christmas Card pictures!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 9

2011-12-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I'm getting bored with me being sick. To the point...sinus headache and more cold symptoms. Blah! On to slightly more interesting happenings! :)

We didn't head to the gym and I'm pretty glad about that because we lost power today. Which means, I would have gotten home in desperate need of a shower and not been able to. We got it back shortly before lunch time. After lunch, Little Man had preschool.

Once we got back home, I noticed that the house hadn't warmed up much. Turns out that the furnace hadn't come back on. I figured the pilot light was out or something easily fixable so we didn't do anything about it since we were picking up Andrew at the airport and he should be able to fix it.

It was starting to get cold so we left early to get Mickey and then the three of us headed north. We drove through for a snack in Oregon City, well, except Aud. She was sacked out! About four we were right by the airport and went shopping to kill two hours. I got some goodies for Aud's room and the cutest hat ever!

We picked up Andrew and then went out to dinner. Once home, Andrew tried to fix the furnace...and couldn't! I tucked the kids in and it's now about 64 degrees. I'm wearing two layers and my warmest socks and I fully intend to snag Aud out of bed to use as my own personal space heater. Oh, and to help keep her warm, too! Hee!

My favorite part of today~Shopping! It was fun just browsing and buying fun stuff, not having to cross stuff off my list.

Mickey's favorite part~Dessert! We ate at Izzy's Buffet and I helped Mickey with some awesome desserts! Chocolate ice cream with strawberry syrup, chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites with whipped cream and chocolate pudding with whip cream! Mama knows how to do buffet dessert! ;)

Aud's favorite part~Daddy!!! The last few days, whenever she gets into trouble she starts crying that she wants her Daddy. Heh!

Our holiday event~Checking out lights with Daddy! We were so out of it with me being sick and the power being out, that we forgot to do our Advent chain! Oh, well. Two tomorrow then. :)

Christmas Album 2011-Day 7

2011-12-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

I feel better!!!! Wheeeeeee!!!!

We went to the gym this morning and the kids got to go to their beloved Kid Watch and I got to walk four miles on the treadmill while reading Creating Keepsakes. ;) I felt good enough to jog a bit but I didn't want to push it too much.

After lunch, we took Mickey to preschool and then Aud and I hit Freddy's. I finally organized her drawer in the bathroom. Mickey's is fairly empty, a few toothbrushes, floss, his toothpaste and some lotion for his skin. Aud's on the other hand, well, let's just say that the differences between men and women start early! Hee!

Oh, and while at Freddy's I picked up a CK special edition magazine and the check out gal asked me if I'd ever gone online to check out scrapbooking stuff. Hee-hee-heee!!!! Oh my, folks! I had to work so hard to not bust a gut right there in line. Oh, man that was a good one. Do I ever check out scrapbooking stuff online. Sigh, there's one for the books! ;D

We picked up Little Man and then zipped to Costco as I had some pics to pick up. We called my mom and my dad to see if either of them needed anything as Mickey wanted to hit Costco's snacks and we really didn't have a reason to go farther than the photo desk. So, we got some yummy snacks and we were useful!

We dropped off Dad's stuff first and hung out for a while. It was nice, the kids had a blast and Mickey is officially hooked on Transformers. Dad has satellite TV and found a Transformers cartoon and Mickey is in love! Hee! We then drove to Mom's and gave her her goodies and then headed back home.

After dinner, I just rested. I'm kind of tired and now that the kids are zonked out, I'm thinking a bath sounds yummy! :)

My favorite part of the day~Getting to go to the gym!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Transformers!!!!!!!!

Audrey's favorite part of the day~Kid Watch at the gym.

Our holiday event~We checked out a few more lights. ;)

AWDML-12 Days of Christmas!!! Day 4

2011-12-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

{{{{Whoopsie! I accidentally scheduled this one to go on December 4th...2012!!! Hee! }}}}

Hey guys! Welcome to Day 4 of A Walk Down Memory Lane's 12 Days of Christmas!

Today, I'll be sharing with you the gift my son is going to give his preschool teachers. They are cute, easy to make and hopefully, useful! I got some 3x5 acrylic photo holders at my local dollar store and turned them into free standing post it note holders!

Here's a quick rundown of how you make these bad boys!
1-Cut a piece of paper to 3x5 (or whatever size your frame is) and adhere a coordinating scrap along the bottom.
2-Place it in the frame and adhere a piece of green ribbon on the outside of the frame, covering up the seam between the two papers and keeping the paper from slipping out of the frame.
3-Cut a small piece of black velcro and adhere to pen and frame.
4-Take the back sheet off your Post-it notes and glue it to the frame.
5-Tie a piece of twine through a chipboard button and adhere to the top of your frame and you are done!
6-Repeat the first five steps for as many teachers as you have on your list! ;)

And now, for the part you've all been waiting for...ahem...lalalala!!!
On the fourth day of Christmas, A Walk Down Memory Lane gave to me.....
Basic Grey Card Class Kits for only $10!!!
(Be very grateful that I don't have a clue how to work a video camera, or you might have actually had to listen to me sing that! LOL!)

Supplies used: Patterned Paper-October Afternoon (blue dot) & (aqua & green damask), Twine-Divine Twine, Chipboard-October Afternoon, Adhesive-Fabritac, Other-Ribbon, Velcro, Pen, Post-it note & frame

12 Days of Christmas fine print...Remember, you can place multiple orders in during the 12 Days of Christmas. You do need to check out each day though as the special prices will not be saved in your cart. If you order during the sale, they will combine the orders and the shipping costs (yay!) on the 13th after the sale is over.

Christmas Album 2011-Day 6

2011-12-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Today was good for my little homebody soul. We only left the house to get Christmas bins out of the shop, to get the mail and to tell Lilly to quit barking at the neighbors! ;)

It was really cold today so I'm glad we didn't have to leave the house. With all the fog, we only reached a high of 36...brrrr! As well as keeping it chilly, it made it too dark to get decent Christmas card pics. If it doesn't clear up soon, I'm just going to use a pic from my November Photo Challenge of the two munchkins smiling together. Those smiling faces are all my family and friends want to see anyways. I'll give it until the tenth and then it's Plan B, baby!

We brought in a few more boxes of Christmas stuff and the kids had a blast digging out as much as they could and decorating the living room. Mickey was so excited to get started that he even vacuumed the living room for me. Ahhh, he's going to make some woman very happy when he gets older. :)

The kids spent most of today playing nicely together. We had a few minor spats but nothing that couldn't be diffused with a little talk. Hide and seek was the most popular game of the day. It was so cute to hear Audrey count to five and then wander around the house saying, "Where's my Mickey?". I love how much they love each other.

Since we took it easy today, I'm feeling much better and I'm going to set out my gym clothes in the hopes that I'll wake up healthy! Yay!

My favorite part of today~Getting out Christmas decorations. (And, getting caught up on my Journal Your Christmas prompts! Yay!!!)

Mickey's favorite part of today~Getting out Christmas decorations.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Getting out Christmas decorations.

Our holiday event~Getting out Christmas decorations. (Notice a theme?) ;)

My Christmas Album-The Album Cover

2011-12-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

I finally got my album in the mail yesterday! Wheee!!! I had fun last night decorating the little 3"x3" opening. Hee!

I grabbed one of my excess pieces of kraft cardstock and trimmed it down to fit the opening. I have some Christmas themed Tim Holtz stamps and stamped the holly and the music images in the upper right and lower left corners. I used Frayed Burlap Distress ink for a kind of tone on tone look. :) The letter stickers are newer Mini Market ones from October Afternoon. The red velvet brad is from Creative Imaginations and I picked them up at the CKC-Seattle convention. The red foil Christmas and the white poinsettia flowers are older Making Memories.

Late last night I ordered my first batch of photos. Since I'm pretty happy with how this album is turning out, I want to use a really good photo place. So, I'm going with scrapbookpictures.com. The other really awesome thing about them is the fact that they carry sooooo many sizes! My order coming has 4x6's, 3x3's, 4x4's and even an 8x8!

Once I get those pics, I'll add them to my completed pages and then I'll share them here.

How's your album coming? :)

Christmas Album 2011-Day 5

2011-12-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

Today was fairly busy from the start. I had to go to the doctor's office first thing in the morning for a fasting blood draw. Which meant, I spent all morning reminding myself not to eat! We swung by The Gran's afterwards to drop something off but didn't stay long as I'm still sick. Still. I know. Soooooo annoying!

Shortly after we got home, my dad stopped by! It was good to see him as the kids adore their Papa Maow and Lilly loves playing with his black lab, Howdy. I was so busy chatting with him that I lost track of time and the kids only had about five minutes to eat. We zipped off to preschool and dropped off Little Man, Miss Thing making her usual plea to stay.

At home I basically just rested and Aud tried to get as much food out of me as possible. My mom called and we chatted for a while. That was nice because I hadn't seen her in a while either, again because of being sick. Blech.

We picked up Little Man from preschool and decided that we'd bring in a box of Christmas decor. We hung up the Christmas card holder but I was too wiped out to do much more. We decided that once the UPS man came with my last Christmas presents (yay!) we'd head into town and get cheesy bread for dinner. It's kind of our traditional Daddy's out of town dinner. We also picked up some peppermint ice cream.

My favorite part of the day~Talking to Mom and seeing Dad.

Audrey's favorite part of the day~Cheesy pizza bread and Papa Maow!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Ice cream and Papa Maow!

Holiday event~Hanging up the first Christmas decor from storage, the Christmas Card holder

It was Aud's turn today!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 4

2011-12-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

Today started out slow. Just hanging around the house together. :) Andrew took Audrey to the store with him because he needed some new black pants. Mickey and I stayed in our pj's all morning. Hee!

It was a nice relaxing morning and the kids had a lot of fun with Andrew. It was good because tonight, we dropped Andrew off at the airport for a business trip to Montana. Audrey slept most of the drive up but Mickey didn't and we chatted together. We all kissed Andrew and sent him on his way.

Mickey was a little upset but he didn't let it stop him from wrangling me for dinner in a restaurant. Little stinker. So, after a quick stop at Old Navy to return some stuff (mine) and buy some stuff(Aud) we went to Olive Garden. We talked a bit during dinner about the fun stuff we'd do and how fast the time would fly before Daddy would be back. I suggested we get the house decorated for Christmas before he comes home and Mickey wanted me to run out and get the stuff out of the shop when we got home...in 36 degree weather. Yeah, maybe tomorrow, Little Man.

On the drive home we swung through a local neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights, I even got a few pics in! :)

My favorite part of the day~Seeing my friend Miriam at Old Navy!

Mickey's favorite part of the day~Eating in a restaurant.

Audrey's favorite part of the day~candy! (We got mints at Old Navy)

Holiday Event~Scoping out some Christmas lights!

Oh, and it was cloudy almost all day! By the time the sun did come out, Aud had just finished wrestling with the dog and she was covered in scratches. She was wearing a tutu and leggings and nothing else during this little impromptu WWE and her dress is sleeveless. There's no way I want to edit all those out!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 3

2011-12-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I'm still a little sickly and really getting sick of it! ;) I spent most of the day cleaning and crafting. Mickey and Andrew headed out for a wedding in the afternoon and Miss Thing got a much needed bath while they were gone.

My favorite part of yesterday~Making a really cute treat container!

Mickey's favorite part~Going to the wedding with Daddy.

Audrey's favorite part~Bath! She doesn't get a solo bath very often and she loved it!

Holiday Event~Getting the backdrop set up for our Christmas card pictures.

(Almost forgot to add this, Aud got to tear off the link!)

Mini Class: She Even Sleeps Cool

2011-12-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a mini class that I made for the A Walk Down Memory Lane newsletter. :)

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Hi guys, it’s Erica with a mini class on how to create a feminine layout using the fall themed Farmhouse line from Crate Paper! First up, trim out the scalloped edge piece on the back of your Handpicked paper, snip in half and adhere to the top left and bottom right of your layout. I used a sheet of Homemade as the base of my layout.

Now you are going to mat your photo with Sunday Dinner and then Handpicked and adhere that to the center of your layout.

Next adhere the 3-D pink rose sticker to the top of your photo and add your title.

Now unscrew the tops of your mists and flick a few drops of ink randomly on your layout.

Embellish your layout with Farmhouse chipboard, stickers, buttons and brad, a few pearls, a pin and some Maya Road roses cut from ribbon and colored with Copic markers. Your last step is to write your journaling around the edge of your photo mat with a gray pen and you are done! Journaling reads-It's easy to see Audrey is a lot like her dad, coordinated, self-confident and self-assured. Heck, the girl even sleeps cool, kicked back and relaxed, she pretty much rocks! Love you, Aud! Aug 2010

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This was from the November 25th newsletter. If you'd like to sign up for the AWDML newsletters, you can do so here!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Christmas Album 2011-Day 2

2011-12-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today was beautiful out! Sunny, with beautiful blue skies. We took Lilly for a walk in the morning before preschool. She hadn't been on her leash in a while and it took her a few minutes to remember how to behave but she did pretty well.

We took Little Man to preschool and then went early to pick him up so one of his teachers could leave early. I love helping out at his preschool and so does Audrey. That girl is going to be thrilled when she finally gets to go to school herself.

After preschool was over, we ran one quick errand in Canby and I debated zipping into Tigard for another but decided against it. I'm (hopefully) on the tail end of this cold and I didn't want to wear myself out today like I did yesterday. :)

This afternoon I got to get some crafting done and work on my Christmas Album! Yay! Once I get pictures ordered, I'll start posting completed pages. :)

My favorite part of today~Helping out at Mickey's preschool.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Probably going to preschool just in time for snack. (She sacked out early tonight on Daddy's lap.)

Mickey's favorite part of today~Going to school and (when I reminded him) playing Madison's Nintendo DS all night.

Andrew's friend Lamont came over with his oldest daughter to watch football and at first Mickey was bummed that Morgan (who's six) didn't come but once Madison showed him how to play that game, it was all over for the evening!

Today's holiday event~Not much Christmassy going on, so I'm going to say that making a little holiday container for the candy I'm going to be giving away was my holiday event. Oh, and Mickey tore off the second link on our Advent chain. Aud wants to do tomorrow's.

See you tomorrow! :)

Lil' Stem/Copic Flower Tutorial!

2011-12-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Here's that tutorial I promised on how to make the cover flower from yesterday's Punky Sprouts album. Enjoy!

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First, gather up the Copic markers you want to use. I chose R81 (Rose Pink), YR12 (Loquat), Y02 (Canary Yellow), YG13 (Chartreuse) and BG53 (Ice Mint).
{My first Copic beauty shot! I feel so cool!}
Take the widest Lil' Stem and color stripes on it using your Copics.

Next, fold your Lil' Stem in half, glueing the raw edges together using fabric glue.

{I use Fabritac!}

Now, snip in between each color stripe.

Go back and make one or two more snips between each original snip depending on how wide your stripes are. I did two on mine.

Now roll up your Lil' Stem...

making sure to adhere the end using fabric glue.

On a scrap of cardstock, squeeze out a large glob of glue, bigger than the base of your flower.

Put your rolled up flower in the middle of the glue...

and then spread out the petals you snipped earlier. The bottom most ones will stick to the excess glue.

After the glue has dried, trim around the edge of your cardstock base and you are done!

____________________________________________

I hope that made sense to you all! If you have any questions, ask away! You can either e-mail me or post it in the comments!

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Christmas Album 2011-Day 1

2011-12-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty busy. We ran a ton of errands. Albertson's, Michael's, Tuesday Morning, Costco and Fred Meyer were all on the list. We even had a stop at home in between to drop off some groceries that needed to be in the fridge. I'm busy fighting off the crud and so didn't remember to pack my camera today.

Mickey finally picked out a present for his Daddy and I got a few more goodies for my Christmas Album. I also spent a $20 Albertson's coupon I got for buying $100 in gift cards on Black Friday. I mainly bought white candy coating to make Peppermint Cookie Crunch for neighbor gifts this year! Love that stuff!

I also stocked up on groceries so we don't have to shop for a while. Andrew's got a business trip coming up and I like to tackle home improvement projects while he's gone. This time around I'm either buying some tables on Craig's List or painting cabinets in the kitchen!

My favorite part of today~Costco with the kids. They were so good and we had a really fun time trying all the "snacks".

Mickey's favorite part of today~Getting a toy (a Cars mini coloring book with a few crayons & stickers) at Michael's.

Audrey's favorite part of today~Fred Meyer! She and Mickey got to play in the Playland while I shopped.

(Mickey just piped up that his second favorite part was seeing Colby, a preschool classmate, at the Playland.)

Today's holiday event~Mickey tore off the first link on our Advent chain that we made last night. (I snagged my iPhone for this one!)

So, that's it for today. I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow so the kiddos can go to the gym's Kid Watch. They love it there! It's great motivation for me to go. ;)

Punky Sprouts, The Girl's Paperie and Copic!

2011-12-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

For the month of November, the Punky Sprouts team got to play with products from The Girl's Paperie, Authentique and Copic! I've got a really cute Sprocket Sprout mini album decorated with papers and embellishments from the Girl's Paperie and accented with Punky Sprouts embellies and Copic markers.

The cover of this album is decorated with a flower made out of a Lil' Bloom. I'll have a tutorial on how to make it up tomorrow. :)
The inside of the front cover has one of the new Lil' Blooms accented with some glass glitter and topped with a Girl's Paperie star and the right side is a pocket page with some banners made out of Lil' Stems and colored with Copic markers.

The other side is also a pocket page with a folded down edge that was border punched before it was folded down and adhered. The next page is a canvas page that was misted using a cut up paper doily as a mask and then I glued some Girl's Paperie ribbon around the outer edge.

The back side of the canvas page was misted using a damask mask that I moved from place to place and then just sprayed once or twice each time I moved it. I stripped off the top layer of the next sprocket page on the top and bottom, inked it with a cream ink and then added more of the glass glitter. I decorated the middle using Girl's Paperie paper and ribbon.
The back of the sprocket page has a cute photo mat with a punched paper strip accented by a brad. The front side of the envelope is lined with matching paper and punched with a border punch and trimmed with ribbon.

I misted the back side of the envelope using the same damask mask I used on the canvas page (say damask mask five times fast!) and then I created another photo mat on the front of the bracket page.

The back side of the bracket page has a ribbon accented photo mat. I covered the inside back cover with paper and then took a canvas Lil' Petal and a cork Lil' Petal, cut them into four pieces and used them to create a banner. Each canvas piece was colored with a Copic marker. I then ran a line of glue along the top and covered it with more of the glass glitter.

The back of my album is covered with the same paper as the front and left unembellished for durability. :)

I seriously love this album but I'm not sure what pictures I want to use with it yet. I'm thinking maybe pics of myself with the kiddos and then I can keep it in my scrap room. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

November Photo Challenge-Part 3!

2011-11-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

Yay!!! I did it! All 30 days are done. I'm pretty darn proud of myself and now I just need to figure out how to display/scrap these! So, here they are, the last 10 of my 30 Day Photo Challenge!

Day 21-Special

Day 22-Water

Day 23-Door

Day 24-Tradition

Day 25-Happy

Day 26-Pop Culture

Day 27-Purchased

Day 28-Shoes Day 29-Flowers

Day 30-In the Car

Whew! Now that's a lot of photos! :) I really enjoyed how this wasn't just a photo challenge for me but also a nice little snippet of our lives right now.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

My Christmas Album-The Base Pages

2011-11-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

This year, instead of my usual December Daily, I decided to sign up for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. I really want this Christmas to be recorded a little more deeply and not be so much of a play-by-play kind of album. I'm really getting excited about it. It starts on December first and goes through January 6th. The other cool thing about this class is the fact that it's a perpetual kind of class. You pay once and you're in for life. :)

I've been poking around the forums a bit and there are a lot of other gals on there who have done it before and some of them have been doing this for a few years now! It seems like a really great bunch and I'm pretty sure I'll come out of this with a few new friends. ;)

So, on to my album. I decided on an 8x8 format for it this year. Bigger than I've done in the past with my December Daily albums but, I'm hoping to have a lot more journaling. This size should give me enough room without overwhelming me. Here is the album I chose, a cloth covered D-ring album from American Crafts in Cardinal.

I'm going with a kraft, cream and red color theme this year. I've done just Christmas themed product and all one line before but this is my first color theme. It's nice because I've been able to dig through my stash and pull out some seriously ancient paper! Scenic Route, anyone?

These are the base pages I've cut so far. I've got a little trick I'll share a bit further down for how I'm saving a bit of money even with having 8x8 pages. But first, some simple base pages. I've got a little stack of kraft and cream pages here. The cream is actually a metallic cream from American Crafts and it was a screamin' good deal! I picked up a 25 pack at Tuesday morning a year ago for $2.99. Score!

The red candy cane paper is from my scrap stash and is from one of last year's My Mind's Eye Christmas lines called Holly Jolly. The other sheet is from the Amy Tangerine line that I won on the American Crafts blog earlier this year.

Now, here's how I was able to stretch my paper a bit and get two 8x8 background pages from one piece of patterned paper and the scraps from my cream and craft pages. First up, he's a little shot of the way I cut my 12x12s into 8x8s. Not terribly ground breaking but you can see that I'm left with one 12x4 piece and one 8x4 piece. All I did was take my chosen patterned paper and cut a four inch strip off of it, just like the original. But then, instead of cutting off another 4" strip, cut the 8" x 12" piece in half. This will give you two sheets of 8"x6" from your one sheet of paper. Now, grab a couple 4"x8" pieces of your solid cardstock leftover from before, border punch one 8" side of your patterned paper and then adhere them together. Here I used a sheet from The Girl's Paperie Twig & Tinsel line (my most favorite Christmas line of all time!) and my leftover cardstock scraps!.

Here I did the same thing with another sheet from Twig & Tinsel and my leftover cream scraps. This method will get you three base pages out of one sheet of cardstock and one sheet of patterned paper and you'll still have a couple scraps left over for embellishing!

Here's the rest of my pages and the lines I used. This is one of the ancients I referred to, it's from Scenic Route (RIP!) and it's from the Garland line.

Here's another sheet from that line. (I've got a bit of a snowflake theme going on!)

And, another one from Scenic Route, I think this is the Roxbury line.

This next one has the leftovers from the above pages adhered to a piece of Scenic Route's Liberty line. It's actually a 4th of July line but the colors work amazingly well together! I cut the Liberty paper like I did the previous pages but the scrap is actually the 12x4 piece cut down to 8x12 and then cut in half lengthwise so I had two pieces of 8x2. I cut a piece of cream 4x8 in half the same way and border punched the edges and then used it to adhere the two patterned pieces together. By doing this I got five pages out of three sheets of paper. :)

This last page uses another scrap from my stash (more My Mind's Eye) that just wasn't quite tall enough to make a up an 8x8 page. So, I grabbed one of the leftover Girl's Paperie pieces and adhered it to the top.

Finally, I've got quite the stash of divided page protectors and cut a few different styles to be either 8x8(the two on the left) or 8x6(the one on the right). So, with all these, I should have enough pages to get started. I've got more of the cream and kraft if I should need a few more pages. I think there are 36 or 37 journaling prompts and I've got 33 regular pages. I'm getting some embellishments and such premade as well and I'll share those later.

Are you doing a Christmas/Holiday album this year? If you are, please post a link in the comments, I'd love to see it! :)

November Photo Challenge-Part 2!

2011-11-20T18:43:00.001-08:00

Here's the second set of 10 images from my 30 Day photo challenge. So far, I've only had to take one picture on a different day and that was by choice, not because I forgot. So, I'm doing really well with this!

Day 11-Many
Day 12-The Weather

Day 13-Someone I Love (The shot I took on the following day, as I was away from him on the 13th and he was the someone I wanted to take a picture of the most!)

Day 14-Favorite Something

Day 15-Close-Up

Day 16-Animal

Day 17-A Stranger

Day 18-Food

Day 19-Where I Slept

Day 20-Old

So, that's set two! I can't wait to get started on set three!

(Finger's crossed that I remember to take a picture on Thanksgiving!)

((And, on Black Friday!!!))

Maya Road-AWDML Featured Manufacturer!

2011-11-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I just wanted to share with you the projects I created for A Walk Down Memory Lane using the other Featured Manufacturer for November, Maya Road!

I created three projects, two layouts and a card, using Maya Road and the awesome Farmhouse line from Crate Paper. Oh, baby! I love this line! It's so gorgeous!

First up, one of my new favorite layouts. It's Miss Thing doing an arts and crafts project at a camp out we attended this summer. The flower on the right, over the ruler sticker, is featured in a step by step I made for the AWDML newsletter!

I also made this cute little card. I just adore the colors of this line! I used a Maya Road chipboard piece and one of my favorite Maya Road products, their trinket pins. I love them!!!
I also wrote up a product review for these cool epoxy stickers from Ephiphany Crafts. I don't have the punch/machine that goes with it so I had to use scissors and my craft knife. Not as quick but still fairly effective! I've got a bunch left so you'll be seeing these again...love making my own matching embellies!

The last project I made is a layout with a thankful theme. Right now, having Little Man is what I am most thankful for. Even six months after the fact, not a day goes by that I don't think about his accident and how it could have ended so horribly and how thankful I am for his miraculous recovery. Each Maya Road frame on this layout features one of the things that helped us have that good outcome. Prayer, Lifeflight, the Canby FD, CPR and Doernbechers. We wouldn't have him without all of them. <3

I love that picture of him, it was just sooooooo good to see him crawling around on the floor playing happily with his cars.

Anyway, there are my Maya Road projects and if you've got a hankering for some Maya Road (or BoBunny!) you can get some at AWDML for 25% off this month.

November Photo Challenge!

2011-11-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm taking part in a photo challenge this month and here are my first ten photos!

Day 1-Self Portrait
Day 2-Orange

Day 3-Bad Habit

Day 4-What I Wore

Day 5-Clouds

Day 6-Looking Down

Down 7-Everyday

Day 8-Morning

Day 9-In the Kitchen

Day 10-Black & White

I'm having a lot of fun with this challenge and I'm pretty excited that I've been able to keep up! I'm heading to CKC-Seattle tomorrow so hopefully I remember to take my pics in all the excitement!

Have a great weekend!

Our Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

This year, Little Man was Lightning McQueen (Kachow!!) and Audrey was a flower. She did try to talk me into Spiderman but it was after I'd gotten a lot of the stuff for the flower costume so...next year, Miss Thing.

I'd seen the Lightning McQueen cardboard box costume on Pinterest (so so addicting!) and found his outfit for $11 at K-mart so it was fairly cheap to make. His straps were leftover fabric from his party and the paper plates were from Dollar Tree. The most expensive thing was the two and a half cans of red spray paint. (Word of advice...primer!!!)

Aud's costume was fairly simple, too. For her skirt of petals, I just cut apart fairy wings from Dollar Tree and folded each set in half over a piece of elastic that I'd dyed lavender and then stitched the ends together to create a sort of belt of flowers that she just steps into. I only dyed the belt because I had to dye her tights green. I just could not find any green tights or leggings anywhere. I picked up the shirt at K-mart (she needed more shirts anyway) and the boots at a consignment shop for like $5! Her headband was left over from the two I bought at Dollar Tree for her birthday and the tulle was also left over from her birthday.

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year, we hit the family on Sunday afternoon. We saw Papa Maow, Auntie Kathy and Uncle John, the Gran, Uncle Toad and Auntie Theresa and then Bah-Bon.

I was really glad we'd done that because Monday just wasn't a good day for me. I'd had a horrible night's sleep and just didn't have any energy until about four. When Andrew got home (bringing with him a take-n-bake pizza, bless his heart!) we dolled up the kids and went to see the neighbors. I love our neighbors!!! Then, it was back home to eat pizza and warm up. :) After that, the kids and I headed into town to trick-or-treat my step-brother's neighborhood and then we stopped by my Mom's again so Grandpa Larry could see the kiddos. Aud fell asleep so we joked that he saw a wilted flower.

All in all, the kids had a great Halloween!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

2011-11-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

I mean...hello, November! LOL!!! The Featured Manufacturer's over at A Walk Down Memory Lane this month are BoBunny and Maya Road.

Well, I got a little inspired by the Blitzen line from BoBunny and got started on my Christmas stuff a little early. :)

I figure if I get all my Christmas stuff done early this month, I'll be able to more fully enjoy Thanksgiving, right?

Or, maybe that's just how I'm rationalizing getting this pretty, pretty paper!

If you'd like to jump the gun on Christmas like I did, you can do it for 25% off this month when you buy either BoBunny or Maya Road goodies! If you're more of a traditionalist and take your holidays in order, thank you very much, there are a ton of fall/Thanksgiving themed products in those to lines as well. :)

Either way, I'm welcoming in November with a little Christmas spirit. Hee!!!

Handprint Ghost Craft!!!

2011-10-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

We did this craft just before Mickey's party and in the excitement, I never got around to sharing it! So, here it is, just in case you have a bit of down time tomorrow, a hand print ghost craft. (With alterations by Mickey!)

First up, gather your supplies. Black paper, white paint, a paint brush of sorts, googly eyes, glue and a black marker.

For our first hand print, I first squirted paint on the brush and then applied it to the kiddos hand but the second time around, I wised up and just squirted it directly on their hands. You could pour it onto a paper plate or sheet of wax paper and then apply to their hands but I was trying to keep clean up time a little shorter.

Smear the paint around so you get a nice thick coverage. This is Mickey's hand after the first attempt and we had to add more.

Then, center their hand on the paper and press firmly. Make sure you get all their little fingers on there. (We redid Aud's thumb on this one!)

When you lift up their sweet, chubby little hands you'll have a pretty good hand print on your paper. Not terribly ghost like, is it?

Now spin your paper around and, after the paint dries, glue on some googly eyes. (A little more ghostly now!)

Then, hand your kids a black marker and have them draw a ghostly (or smiley) mouth.

After that, watch them get all crazy with the googly eyes and create monster ghosts!!! (Mickey's idea!)

Hang them up on your wall and enjoy!

I'll probably date and label these when I take them down. We were a little pressed for time originally otherwise I would have remembered that step originally! LOL!

My New Favorite Photo

2011-10-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Sigh, love it! :)

Mickey's Birthday Party

2011-10-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Mickey's 5th birthday was a pretty exciting event around here! I had a lot of fun making his Cars themed party as special as I could without sending myself over the edge! ;) I combined his first school friend party with his normal family party because...well...two parties is too much for me to deal with!

I made his invites using Photoshop and some clip art. I found Lightening McQueen on the Cars website, it's actually a computer desktop wallpaper that I cropped and then cloned out some excess stuff. I made the front and back as two separate 4x6 photos and then just adhered them back to back. It works really well and is fairly inexpensive too. With the help of Google I found a font similar to the official Cars font and chromed it up with Photoshop.

I also made personalized Pit Passes for the boys and Audrey and guest ones for anyone else who wanted to wear them. Surprisingly, quite a few adults did! I created the bar code with another font I found online and used the day of the party as the number. I made these 2x6 so I could get two on a 4x6 photo and just cut them apart. Worked like a charm and Mickey loved them!

In order to maintain my sanity, I did store bought cupcakes and cake this year. I figured as long as it's chocolate and Cars, Mickey won't care. No one else did, either. I'm not exactly an amazing baker so I'm pretty sure my box mix cupcakes were not missed at all. Heh!

I bought a few yards of the checked fabric (hemmed by Mom!) at JoAnn's, some cones at Fred Meyer (the kids are now using them to play soccer outside) and then set up Cars themed snacks in red and black plastic dishes I found on clearance at Target. We had stacks of tires (mini chocolate covered donuts), white wall tires (Oreos) and traffic cones (Nacho Cheese flavored Bugles). Oh, and Pirate's Booty. No Cars theme there, I just love the stuff! ;)

I used the leftover fabric to decorate the buffet along with as many pics of Mickey as I could get on there. Most of them got covered up fairly quickly. Little Man got quite the haul!

I originally was going to do some Cars games but, in the name of sanity (again!) I opted just to kick them outside with our new dog and the croquet set. They didn't care at all and loved playing with Lilly!

I bribed them with opening presents to get them back in the house. The kids swarmed Mickey with each new present he opened and I finally suggested that each kid get a turn "helping" Mickey open one present. That calmed things down fairly quickly.

His crown is the one he was given at preschool on his actual birthday and he thought it would be a good idea to wear it to his party.

After presents it was time for food!
Mickey blew out the candles on his cake pretty much the second his dad lit them. We explained that he needed to wait for us to sing and then make a wish and then blow out the candles. So, we relit, sang and then he blew out his candles. :)

It was a great little party. Mickey got to play with some of his preschool friends and see a bunch of family. He loved all his presents and was pretty good about sharing them with Audrey right away. We love our little guy and I'm so glad he loved his party, too. He's so worth every late night!

Oh, I almost forgot! The shirt he's wearing is a Cars one I found at Kmart for super cheap and snagged a few days before his birthday. I hung on his door knob the night before his birthday and he got to wear it to preschool that day and then again to his party. He thought that was pretty darn cool. :)

One more thing....here's a sneak at his Halloween costume in progress!

He's Five!!!!

2011-10-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

He is five and we are so grateful!

Grateful for his smile. Grateful for his desire to learn.

Grateful for his sweet, loving nature.

Grateful for his amazing ability to make friends so easily.

Grateful for his willingness to help out.

Grateful for his sense of humor.

But mostly, we are just so very grateful to have him here with us.

We love you so very much, Mitchell Jack Hettwer.

We are grateful for you!

AWDML October Featured Manufacturer

2011-10-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I wanted to share the goodies I made with the second Featured Manufacturer over at A Walk Down Memory Lane! It's a pretty cool FM this time, not a stamp company but Ranger! Inks and paints and Tim Holtz, oh my! :)

First up, I made this layout about my niece, Claire. The kids adore her (as do I) and we are so happy when she comes over. I created the flowers with a transparency and alcohol inks and the butterflies with die cut cardstock and alcohol inks.
Next, I made this fun Halloween themed card. I gotta say, those alcohol inks are so fun to play with!
Finally, I busted out the paints to create this colorful card.

It just makes me happy. :)

And, it's in ROY G BIV order, too! Hee!

If you need some Ranger goodies, now's the time to get them at AWDML, they're 25% off all month! (Jillibean is, too!)

Splendidly Authentique!

2011-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to take part in Authentique's October sketch challenge. I printed out the sketch, grabbed my Authentique paper and took it with me to Kah-Nee-Tah this last weekend.

I got it mostly completed there, along with another layout and two cards. I just had to write the journaling and add the date once I got home.

I used papers and die cuts and stickers from the Splendid line and stickers from the Uncommon line. I just love how well the colors in Splendid go with the pictures of Audrey riding her John Deere trike and wearing her Barbie helmet. :)

October!!!

2011-10-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

It's October! My favorite month! In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness, I've changed my blog to pink and updated my header so if you're reading me on Reader, pop on over and tell me what you think!

It's a busy month around these parts, here's a quick run down of important dates!

2nd-My brother-in-law's birthday

5th-My birthday! (Hello 35!)

15th-Dad's birthday

19th-Step-Dad's birthday

21st-Mickey's birthday

31st-Halloween!!!

So, that means I've got lots of cards to make, a family party and a kid party to plan for Mickey (his first kid party!!!), and some costumes to make! Mickey's going to be Lightening McQueen and have a Cars themed birthday. I like to coordinate his party and his costume because it just makes life a whole lot easier for me! Aud's going to be a flower. Although if you ask her now, she wants to be Spiderman! Sorry Miss Thing, you can be Spiderman next year, this year I've already got some of the stuff to make your flower costume. LOL!

How's your October shaping up? Super busy like mine or pretty laid back?

Oh, and here's a card I made for AWDML using some of Echo Park's new Halloween line, Apothecary Emporium.

Sigh, I love October! :)

Preschool Pumpkin Patch Trip

2011-10-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of our day at the pumpkin patch!

We went to the same place as last year. The only difference was...
My mom came with so I got this picture of the three of us!

And then I took this one of the four of us! Hee! My boots are the hounds tooth ones. It mortifies my husband when I wear them in public!

Mickey took this picture of his preschool teacher with my camera. I think it's his first pic on this camera!

Aud got in on the action and took this shot of my mom! Hi, Bah-Bon!

Aud thought the baby pigs were pretty cute...and so did I!

One of the new attractions was this nut room! The kids went wild about it and the consensus amongst the mom's was that we had our own nut rooms at home!

Aud loved it too! (I got a few other good pics in here but they have other kid's faces in them.)

Someone got a little tired while checking out the bunnies. :)

Mickey and his buddies checking out the corn maze from the tractor ride. They loved the maze and Jaden and Mickey wound up running through it, which meant I did too. I got whacked on the head about a half a dozen times by the random sunflowers that were in there!

This was the first of three or four pumpkins that Aud picked out. Mom tried to have her put her pumpkin in the bag right away but I remembered her pumpkin greed from last year and advised waiting until it was time to leave to finalize her pumpkin choice. (She picked a dirty one, of course!)

Mickey's friend Jaden picked a large pumpkin so Mickey had to have a huge one too! Then, he couldn't carry it! So, I carried his enormous one and he carried my cute little one. :)

It was a great trip. I just love taking the kids to the pumpkin patch and we'll probably go to another one a little later in the month. :)

Have you hit the pumpkin patches yet?

Quick Card!

2011-10-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Just poppin' in with a quick (and I mean quick!) card.

If you'd like to see the step-by-step for making this card, be sure to sign up for the A Walk Down Memory Lane newsletters. They come out every Friday and have fun little how-tos, sketches and sometimes even coupon codes!

AWDML October Featured Manufacturer-Jillibean Soup!!!

2011-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! I love Jillibean Soup! <3 I got a bunch of goodies from the Homemade 6 Bean Soup line.

This layout uses only the stickers and die cuts from the line, no patterned paper at all!

I love the background paper on this layout, it's a cutting mat!!! My mom's a quilter and my grandmother used to quilt too so the sewing theme in this line just makes me happy. This layout is about the fabric paper dolls that my mom made Aud for her 2nd birthday. They were (and still are) quite the hit!

I made these next two cards for my mom.

Now, they aren't for me to give to her, I made them for her to give to two of her quilting buddies. I hope they'll like them!

Remember, you can get this line and every other Jillibean Soup goodie for 25% off at AWDML for the entire month of October! Happy shopping! :)

World Card Making Day!!!

2011-10-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

So, I was hoping to be able to make a ton of cards today and then post them tonight. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men...or kids and pets have conspired against me.

So, I'm going to share a few of my favorite cards with you instead! :D

I love this simple card.
This little cutie was featured on the Write. Click. Scrapbook blog the other day! It was a week all about fall. :)

This card I made using a sketch from My Sketch World. Love that site! <3

This one is featured on the Punky Sprouts blog today. :)

Sigh, I still adore this card! <3 Maybe it's because I secretly wish that I had reason to get one of these cards. ;)

This card was featured with the other fall themed card on Write. Click. Scrapbook and is currently featured on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog. :)

I made this little cutie for Aud, using a kit from My Scrapbook Nook.

Well, that's all I've got for WCMD, I hope you had a more productive one than I! Hee!

Meet Lilly!!!

2011-09-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

We got a dog!!! Her name is Lilly and she's 13 weeks old and she's a black Great Doodle. A Standard Poodle, Great Dane cross. We adore her!!!

We'd been talking about getting another dog for a while now and first we looked into Greyhounds but then we realized that they don't get along so well with cats. Andrew really likes the shorter haired dogs and I really wanted a larger dog so the next logical choice...a Great Dane!

We researched them for a couple months (okay, I did) and they are fabulous with kids and get along with with other animals including cats! The only downside, a tendency towards bad hips and a short lifespan. I really wanted a 1-2 year old dog so we wouldn't have to deal with the whole puppy issue.

Well, our nephew called us Tuesday night and said that he was off to get a Great Dane puppy. What?!?!?! It turned out that there were two left and they were actually Great Dane, Poodle crosses.

I wasn't sure about the Poodle aspect nor about getting a puppy, but the kids and I headed out to see. Well, when we went inside, I sat down on the couch and one of the puppies laid down right under my legs and stayed there for like ten minutes. Um, yeah, sold!!!

So, we took her home and named her Lilly. Since it was such a last minute thing, we didn't have anything prepared. And, since we got home about 9:30, we didn't have time to run to the store so I slept on the couch that night and Lilly slept on the floor next to me.

The next day, I called the vet first thing and squeezed her in for an afternoon appointment. My dad came by in the morning and gave us a crate and then we ran to Costco and PetSmart to get her some other goodies.

At the vet, we got her updated on shots, found out that she has both a yeast and bacterial infection in her ears and worms. Totally typical puppy stuff. She weighs 22 pounds and handled the trip to the vet amazingly.

She lets us handle her ears, feet and teeth without reaction and is just such a sweetie. I'm working on getting her house broken, leash trained and crate trained. Then, we'll move on to other basic commands. I'm having a harder time with potty training her because the recommendation of tethering her to me indoors kind of freaks me out after Mickey's accident.

The upside to the hard work of having a puppy is that I'm sleeping better than I have in weeks and I don't have those awful flashbacks anymore! Yay!!!

Once we get calmed down around here, I'll have more Lilly pictures to share!

We love our new girl! <3

Punky Sprouts & Paper Trunk!!!

2011-09-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Punky Sprouts is having a fun product swap with Paper Trunk! Each day starting on the 19th and ending on the 28th, visit the Punky Sprouts blog. Each day you'll see a new project featuring Punky Sprouts and Paper Trunk goodies! Along with the projects, there will be a word posted each day. Keep track of those words! At the end of the week, you need to unscramble the words which make a back to school quote. Be sure to note that there are double words in the quote! Once you have figured out the quote, email it to Lynn, the Punky Sprouts DT Coordinator (lynn.reaney@comcast.net) and a winner will be drawn from all the correct entries. Want another chance to win? Visit the Paper Trunk blog and see their design teams' creations all week as well!

Here's my project for the swap! I took one of the newest additions to the Punky Sprouts line up, the Teenie-Beanie Sprout album and Paper Trunk’s Socialite collection and made an inspirational banner for my scrap room.

I’ve been collecting quite a few inspirational quotes in my Pinterest account and decided it was about time to use them.

I read through them and chose a word or two from each one to use on my banner.

I covered the three chipboard pieces with the large floral patterned paper and then sanded down the edges to get a nice white border.

I sprayed designs in coordinating colors on the canvas pieces using a 6x6 Crafter’s Workshop template called Circus Banners.

On the two corrugated pieces, I randomly tore off pieces from the top layer to expose the corrugated core.

I then embellished each piece with Paper Trunk’s Carson letters in white (that I colored black with a Sharpie), die cut elements from the Paper Trunk’s Socialite Collection, Rockabilly Flair and chipboard.

I backed the chipboard flower with patterned paper and trimmed around it before adhering it to the canvas piece. (Tip~Fabri Tac adhesive works wonderfully with canvas!)

I also punched out butterflies, leaves and rolled flowers out of the Socialite Collection and used them as embellishments.

When it came time to decide the order of my banner pieces I was stumped!

I ended up asking Andrew's opinion and he flippantly responded with alphabetical! Well, I tried it and loved it!

Thanks for checking out my album and don’t forget to stop by the Punky Sprouts and Paper Trunk blogs each day!

A Strip Challenge and a Dirty Girl!

2011-09-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, now it's not what it sounds like. LOL!!! A strip challenge is what I've got going on over at the AWDML blog. And, a Dirty Girl is Miss Thing here. I'll post the journaling so you understand what I mean about her being a Girly, Dirty Girl!

Your favorite color is pink, you call your dresses "princess", and you are totally obsessed with shoes. All the makings of a girly girl, yes? Well, you also love wearing your brother's cowboy boots, run around like a maniac, and adore getting dirty. For example, while camping you laid down on your belly, made a dirt angel, and then kissed the dirt! So much for keeping you clean! I love you, my sweet, crazy, dirt-lovin', girly girl!

All you have to do is create a layout using at least five different strips of patterned paper, add it to their gallery and link to this blog post over at AWDML and you'll be entered to win a $5 gift card.

I hope you join in! :)

Right now...

2011-09-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

~Mickey has homework in preschool, and he calls it his paperwork. Too funny!

~Audrey says I miss new instead of I miss you. So sweet!
~I'm getting over a two week funk. No motivation for anything. Not sleeping until after 2:00 in the morning kind of does that to a person. I'm doing better now but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the hot mess my house has become. Yikes! Hopefully, my brain will let go of some bad images and let me sleep normally again. I've got to get back to a normal schedule.

~My mom's out of town for two weeks. I dislike this very much. Not only is she one of my closest friends, she's also the babysitter I trust the most. Especially now. She and Larry are going to have a lot of fun and see lots of family so I'm glad they are going.

~Andrew's bowling league has started up again. I'm thinking I need to crash it sometime so I can get some pics and actually scrap something about my husband!

~The kids get along about 80% of the time. 15% of the time they just kind of have little spats and 5% is WWIII. All in all, pretty good percentages, I think!

~I've found a discipline technique that works for us right now and I love it. First offense earns them a time out (# of min = # of years old) and then each offense after that earns them an extra minute added on. So, Mickey starts out with four and then the next time he gets five minutes. So far, the most we've hit in one day is seven minutes. Oh, and when he argues it I calmly ask him if he'd like me to double it or if he'd like to stick with his original amount. This stops him arguing and he heads straight for his room. He even sets the timer himself. LOL!

~Devo's walking is painful to look at. I even had to help him get up once. He'll be 15 years old on the first and I'm quite honestly hoping he goes peacefully in the night and doesn't have another seizure like he did last year. We've had enough trauma around here.

~I'm really happy with my design teams. The gals are amazing and the work is so fun! I love this hobby of mine!

The Greeting Farm

2011-09-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I wanted to share AWDML's second Featured Manufacturer for the month with you. It's the stamp company The Greeting Farm.

I picked up this cute stamp...

because Miss Thing calls all her dresses and girl dolls "princess!". I was torn between that one and this cute sweetie because I knew I'd get a lot of use out of her too.

But, in the end, the princess won out so I could make this cute little book for Audrey.

And, this sweet little birthday card for one of Audrey's little friends.

If you'd like to get your hands on some cute Greeting Farm stamps, head on over to A Walk Down Memory Lane before the end of the month and you can pick them up for 25% off!!! (American Crafts is 25% off, too!)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

A Walk Down Memory Lane - Love Card!

2011-09-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hop on over to the AWDML blog to check out my post on this super cute card!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Remember...

2011-09-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sending peace to those who lost a loved one ten years ago today.

Back to School!

2011-09-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

Mickey's first day back to school is today! It's his second year of preschool so he goes three days a week, for two and a half hours. He's super excited to be back! He adores his preschool, his teachers and his classmates. He pretty much picks out his own clothes all the time now and chose this outfit for his first day back. It's the same shirt he wore last year on his first day!

When we did our quick back to school shoot this morning, Little Man wasn't super thrilled about it so I told him he could make some funny faces too. This one makes him look totally like a couple of his boy Hettwer cousins. (They make this face all the time!)

I got a ton of this one! (He gets that ginormous tongue from his mom, we must be related to Gene Simmons!)

This one, he was just being silly and looking at it now, I'm struck by how old he looks in it. Kind of drives home the fact that in a few years, both of my kids will be in school for six hours a day. I have to admit, I'm not looking forward to it. I enjoy having all this time with my kids. They are wonderful and I'm going to miss being there for them whenever they need me.

We got Audrey into the act too. A bunch of pics of the two of them together but very few with both of them looking at the camera. Aud's really hard to get looking at the camera. At least when I'm behind it. It's such a novelty when someone else is taking her picture that she looks at them the whole time! Hah! (Note that she's standing up on her tiptoes to be taller!)

Finally, this picture of Miss Thing is one of my new favorites of her. She busted out the over-the-shoulder pose all on her own. Love that two year old 'tude!

When I dropped him off, he was totally fine. Last year, he had a bit of a hesitation in the parking lot but this year, he was off and running from the start!

Today I...

2011-09-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today I went nowhere. Unless you count taking out the trash and walking across the street to get the mail, I didn't leave the house!

Today I hoped that I could get everything on my to-do list done. \

Today I dreamed of a happy future for both my kids.

Today I forgot to work out. Okay, I didn't forget but I didn't get it fit in.

Today I heard my my kiddos giggling and laughing and playing so wonderfully together.

Today I read the last few pages of a trilogy that I started yesterday.

Today I watched Project Runway!

Today I broke nothing! Go, clumsy me! (Seriously, I'm pretty clumsy!)

Today I said Mickey, let's interview you!

Today I believed that I might be able to run a half marathon this year.
Today I felt tired this morning and so I slept in.

Today I wondered if I'd ever reach my weight loss goal.
Today I bought two Cars posters off Amazon for Little Man's upcoming birthday.
Today I cleaned the kitchen after cooking 20lbs of ground beef.

Today I was me.

Today We... (9/2)

2011-09-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

~went for a walk/run. Mickey kept up the whole way and even encouraged me when I had to stop and walk.

~Papa Maow came over for a hair cut and to take the kids down to the "cricket". They love going down to the creek with him and I love that I got them to wear their boots this time. Mickey got one of his stuck in the mud and had to take it off to get it out!

~I'm procrastinating doing my Pilates, still a little sore from yesterday's re-introduction to Jillian and her 30 Day Shred.

~I'm not allowing myself to play with my new 10-24 lens and Lightroom until I do it. It's what I bought with my garage sale/Coach purse sale/wedding shoot money. I agonized over what lens to get and ultimately decided to round out my focal range instead of upgrading my long zoom or getting a macro lens or even getting a flash. Hoping I made the right choice. I'm feeling pretty good about my Lightroom purchase as the time involved in processing lots of photos is what stops me from processing them most of the time. Can't wait to get it on my computer!

~I'm planning out a visual reminder for this month's goal...90 miles and 10 lbs!!!

~I've got to get my to do lists all together and accessible. Yesterday, I felt like I had a bunch of stuff I should be doing and couldn't remember what. I need a central location for my to do list.

~The kids are having a pretty good day together. Only one time out so far. I'm really proud of Audrey, I told her to go into her room for time out...and she went! (Kind of proud of my parenting lately, too. A lot less yelling!)
______________________________________________________________

~Got my Pilates in!

~Went to pizza with my SIL and our families and found out that my niece got engaged!!! <3

~Made a THREE PAGE to-do list! Yikes!

~Played a little with my new lens. Oh, I like it! It's definitely not an everyday lens but I can see lots of times when it will be awesome... eg, you'll be seeing a lot more landscapes from me!

~Going to bed by 11 tonight so I can get my walk in before it gets too hot. It's going to be a hot one tomorrow. :)

Dixie Pieces September Kit!!!

2011-09-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

The September Dixie Pieces kit, called "A Bird's Life" transitions us from summer into fall with bits of summer sky blues, oranges and yellows which flow into the greens and golds of fall. "A Bird's Life" flies away from the conventional and into the whimsical; it's perfect for capturing your summer or fall memories. You'll find your favorite manufacturers here -- American Crafts, Bazzill, Basic Grey, Lily Bee, and Maya Road; plus a new one for Dixie Pieces, Harmonie from Montreal. We can't wait to see what you create with this kit!_________________________________________________________________

This was another fun kit! I pretty much used those super cute felt trees on every single project. I think only one card and one layout escaped the trees. :)

I used an orange felt tree on this card as a focal point along with that super cute orange woodgrain paper. Yay, orange!!! (Go Beavs!!!!)

This next card was a true labor of love. I made it for Andrew's birthday and it took forever to glue those cute little tiles onto it. I adore how it turned out though. Masculine cards all tend to look alike after a while and I love how different this one is.

This layout was just fun. I love white space layouts even though I don't do them very often. Mickey's preschool teacher saved this art project for him while he was in the hospital and I just thought that was so sweet of her. He loved getting to do it at home.

On this layout, I used the burlap pennant as a tent and turned one of the chipboard clouds into rocks.

I made this final layout simply to showcase one of my more recent favorite photos. The water was truly like glass our first morning of the campout and I wanted to showcase that.

So, there we have it! My projects for the Dixie Pieces September kit, A Bird's Life! I hope you liked them and thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Back Home!!!!

2011-08-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! I've got a new DT gig and it's with A Walk Down Memory Lane again!!! I just adore Lisa and her store that's stocked with all the best stuff and I've been (not so) patiently waiting for a DT call. Well, she had one, I applied and I'm back on the team.

In even awesomer news, my sweet friend Nicole is back on the team this term too! Squeeeee!!! My other DT friends are Amarilys (love her name!!!), Shelly, and Suzanne. My wonderful DT Coordinator is Lucy Chesna and I'm sooooo glad to be back working with her too!
If you remember from before, Lisa always features two companies per month; a scrapbooking one and a stamping one. Well, this month's scrapbooking Featured Manufacturer is.......American Crafts!!! Wheeeeee!!!

Products used: Patterned Paper-American Crafts, Cardstock-Bazzill, Letter Stickers-American Crafts, Felt Embellishments-American Crafts, Rosette Embellishment-American Crafts, Border Punch-Fiskars, Pen-American Crafts

Products used: Patterned Paper-American Crafts, Cardstock-Bazzill, Letter Stickers-American Crafts, Pen-American Crafts, Twine-The Twinery, Stamps-Studio Calico, Die-My Favorite Things, Ink-Memento, Punches-We R Memory Keepers

Products used: Patterned Paper-American Crafts, Fabric Paper-American Crafts, Die-My Favorite Things, Punches-Ek Success, Bling-Kaiser Craft

I hope you like my projects and remember, all American Crafts products are 25% off for the month of September! :D

Busy, Busy August!

2011-08-31T14:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some of my favorite photos from the month of August. (I actually haven't taken as many this month. I think it's a little reaction to the insanity that was Week In the Life!)

Fair

Rodeo

Wedding Shoot

OGWA Camp Out

Garage Sale

New Design Team (more on that tomorrow!)

Andrew's Birthday

Hanging out with Friends & Family

Slice of Summer

Doctor's Appointment

Lego Swallowing (and finding!)

Yeah, it's been a busy month. ;)

Sketch Fun!

2011-08-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

I joined in the October Afternoon Sketch Challenge this week and made a two-pager! The sketch was originally a one page 8 1/2" x 11" sketch but I flipped and rotated it and used it twice to make this layout. :)

I used the July kit from My Scrapbook Nook. I did add a little extra October Afternoon from the Boardwalk line. Love that red and white stripe!

I also loved cutting out those cute little kid paper dolls. They even kind of look like my kids! ;)

I sanded and inked the included chipboard alphas to make it go with the vintage theme of the kit a bit more.

I loved making this layout. Those six pictures are some of my favorites from that day.

Although, I do wish I could have squeezed that motorized Port-a-Potty on there! Ha!

My 2011 Summer CHA Picks!

2011-08-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of my favorite releases from CHA this summer. :)

LOVE this Halloween line from Echo Park. (Brace yourself, there's a lot more Halloween ahead!)

I completely and absolutely adore the Christmas line from Authenique! (Quite a bit of Christmas too!)

They've got a super fun Halloween line, too! (See, I told you! More Halloween already!)

I can't wait to get my hands on the Farmhouse collection from October Afternoon. It's just gorgeous!!!! (Finally, something not Halloween or Christmas!)

Their Sasparilla line looks super cute, too!

The Memoir line from Studio Calico is another line that I just have to have. Love the bright warm colors. Gorgeous!!!

I love this cute pinecone die from Sizzix. Isn't just adorable??? So stinkin' clever!

I really loved the last Pink Paislee/Collage Press release, Hometown Summer. I didn't think I would at first but they have some seriously amazing b-sides. This one has that same feel. Can't wait to see it in real life!

My Mind's Eye came out with four more color ways to go with their Lost & Found line. I'm probably going to pick up one or two from each color with the majority being from this Blush line. Did you see that label paper???

They also have a really cute Halloween line. I love the touches of aqua! (More Halloween!)

My Little Shoebox had a couple of releases that really grabbed me. First up, the pretty florals in Enchanted Garden. Love the blue flowers on the yellow background! They are another company that rocks the b-sides!

My other favorite line from them is the Audrey line. I was fortunate enough to win it on their Facebook page! I've already received it and it's adorable!!! I'm super partial to the name, too!

I loved everything from Lily Bee Designs. The Christmas line is fab with those amazing trees. (Not the last Christmas you'll see!)

My very favorite release from them is their Valentine's line, Head Over Heels. The colors and patterns are seriously luscious!!! Their Memorandum line is half office inspired themes and half fun patterns in pretty, pretty colors!

They also have a fall theme that's just wonderful. I seriously love Lilybee!!!

Jillibean had some great releases, too. My favorite is Homemade 6 Bean Soup. It's got a cute, vintage sewing theme. (I tried to just show you the 6x6 pad but this is all one image. Yikes!!!)

Love Crate's Peppermint line, so pretty and so versatile! (There it is our final Christmas!!!)

Love their fall line, Farmhouse, too. So warm, so yummy, so on my list! :) (And, the second line named Farmhouse that I adore!)

Lovin' the Tiny Text from Cosmo Cricket! I hope they come out with more of these. :)

Well, there you have it. Some of my favs this release! There were a few more that I liked but didn't add because there has to be an end somewhere. Especially since what I liked was more Christmas and Halloween. For example, Simple Stories and Teresa Collins. I'd have to celebrate Christmas 10 times a year if I got all the lines I loved! Hee!

Do you have a CHA list? Are any of ours the same? Did I miss something fab? Please share! :)

Punky Sprouts!!!

2011-08-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Here's a layout that I made for Punky Sprouts this month. I chose to do a wedding layout because it's one of the categories for the Clackamas County Fair. I swear, if it wasn't for that fair, I'd never scrap my wedding! Hee!

Here's a close up of the paper waving technique. I first saw this over at Lolly Chops blog. Mmmm, I love that Portrait paper line from Crate!!! And, a close up of my flower. I made it with a Lil' Stem and a few Lil' Petals as leaves. I also built the entire layout on a piece of Punky Punkyground. It's going to go in our dining room so the Punky Playground will make it much easier to display.

You can see a little more info on this layout up on the Punky Sprouts blog here.

Thanks for stoppin' by! Stay tuned for a post about some of my CHA favs!!!

More Old School Scrappin'!

2011-08-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

So, not only did I use a paper crimper yesterday, today I used some old Creative Imaginations papers! I'm pretty sure I picked this stuff up in 2007! :)

In other news, today Audrey went down for her nap like a little angel. None of the screeches and screaming fits that we've been having for the last few weeks. I'm pretty sure she was just trying to make up for pouring pink glitter paint on my scrap desk and breaking a bottle of black nail polish in the bathroom.

Life's never boring! :)

Just For Fun!

2011-08-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

I was playing with my August My Scrapbook Nook kit last night and I busted out the paper crimper! Hee! I'd forgotten how much fun that thing is!

I also altered this Happy Cow cheese container that my Granny had given me a while back. It's now a treasure box for Mickey!

I think we are going to put his Viewfinder discs in it so that Audrey will be less likely to destroy them. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Dixie Pieces August Kit!!!

2011-08-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

I had such a good time with Dixie Pieces' Simple Life kit! It was an amazing mix of products, I don't know how Sherri does it! Here's the kit itself. Love the warm, bright colors!!!
I saw this little phrase on Simple Stories Photo Mat paper and knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I used the included Jillibean stamp to create my journaling block which is simply a list of our favorite events at Doernbecher's.

Journaling reads...5-Getting positive EEG results, 4-Hearing you say ma-ma, 3-Watching you write the letter "A", 2-Seeing all the wires & tubes come out, 1-Bringing you home safe and sound!

Next up, a layout about Miss Thing. I loved that pink piece from the Photo Mat the instant I saw it and knew it would be great for a layout about her with lots of journaling. I also had a lot of fun with the washi tape included in this kit. If you subscribe to the Dixie Pieces newsletter, you'll find a tutorial on how I made the little rose by the title using the tape.

Journaling reads~Audrey, You love it when I do your hair and you are always asking me for "piggies" or a "pony". I sit you on the bathroom counter and dig out a brush, comb, rubber bands and hair clips and then we spend five to ten minutes playing with your hair until it's "pretty". When we first started doing your hair, you were really good about leaving it alone and your cute little hairstyles would last until nap time. lately, you've started playing with your hair and I'm lucky if it stays "pretty" for the same amount of time that it took to do your hair. I took these pictures just to prove that we did try to do your hair. It took you less than three minutes to take this style apart. It's okay though, we have fun together and that's all that really matter. Love, Mom

My last layout uses that papers from Simple Stories, My Mind's Eye and Fancy Pants. I love how they look together. :)

Journaling reads~It was so nice to be able to take you two to DQ. The last trip we planned was the evening of Mickey's accident. So these Dilly Bars were extra sweet!

I also made this fun card for my uncle's birthday. (He loved it!)

And, I altered this frame that I'd picked up a few weeks ago at a garage sale for a buck. I just added spray paint and the kit and now it's sitting proudly in our living room! :)

There are a few extras available this month, too! There's a Fancy Pants brag book and a Simple Life paper add-on as well as the Simple Life kit itself.

Week in the Life -Day 7

2011-08-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last day of Week in the Life! I made it! Wheeeeeeee! :D

This morning started out pretty silly. I came out of the bedroom to find my kids taking turns smelling daddy's feet, shrieking "Stinky!!!" and laughing like little maniacs. :)
I had my normal breakfast because even though we were going out to breakfast I knew I'd eat way too much if I skipped it.

Little Man wanted to bring SoftDog to the country club and we let him. SoftDog is his most favorite toy and one he sleeps with every night.

We were a little frantic getting out of the house and we figured we'd be either right on time or just a minute or two late. We pulled up to the main street in town and Andrew started laughing. The lights were flashing and the gates came down and we were officially going to be late. It wound up taking a few minutes for this to scoot in front of us and then the gates came back up.

Audrey was looking super adorable and getting all sorts of attention from the grandparent age group at the country club. However, she was feeling a little shy and this was the pouty little hesitant look she shot the kind old gent who was talking too her.

Here's our breakfast group. We went to breakfast for my uncle's birthday. He's the handsome gentleman on the left. :) You're probably wondering why I didn't ask everyone to smile but it's because that if I'm not sneaky about my group shots, my granny will hide! She hates the camera. She only barely tolerates it at times because she loves me. :D

Mickey got Mickey Mouse pancakes! Aud had bacon and eggs with hash browns and Grandpa Larry's fruit, Andrew had a huge, loaded with meat omelet and I had bacon and eggs and fruit and one of my mom's blueberry pancakes. Mickey also had one of Granny's pancakes and Uncle Doug's fruit. The kid was just packin' it in!

Some after meal silliness with SoftDog and Daddy.

When we got home we all changed clothes and got ready for the party. It went really well and everyone had a good time.

Audrey had a blast in the pool with her Daddy and kept asking to go swimming. Her cousin's obliged her one time but didn't realize that we'd put her back in a normal diaper because those swim diapers don't hold anything. She looked soooooo funny when I got her out. Hee!

Other party activities were horse shoes...

volleyball...

and more swimming! The weather was perfect. Warm enough to swim but not so hot that everyone else was miserable.

My sister-in-law and I were walking around the property talking plants (she's amazing with plants!) and we found this little fort thingy Mickey built. I love it! It's so the kind of thing my brother and I did when we were kids. :)

More chatting with family. :)

My nephew had my camera and couldn't get it to take a picture. I finally put it on full auto (or as he called it, idiot mode) and he started snapping away. I was pretty happy when I saw this because I didn't really get a shot of myself today. Too busy! (You'll see my last ditch effort below.)

Here it is! The yikes-I-didn't-get-a-shot-of-me-self-portrait-in-a-window shot. It's famous world wide, don't ya know! I was taking a sleepy Miss Thing into the house to get her all set up watching a movie on the couch while everyone was leaving.

Not everyone left though. Two people (complete strangers to us!) stayed until almost midnight! Andrew had kindly invited them in after everyone else left and it was just us and them. Andrew and kids promptly fell asleep on the BigChair and I was left with them. I finally told them I needed to tuck the kids into bed and pinched Andrew when I got them so he'd wake up. They finally left and we were able to go to bed ourselves.

It's kind of appropriate that this super busy day was the wind up to a very busy week. I think our only days of down time were Friday and Saturday. Our summer's are always like this. A week or two of super busy followed by weeks of nothing. It's pretty cool because we have fun and we are also able to relax and just be a family.

So that's it. My Week in the Life. I still have to get my photos off my iPhone and then I can start putting my album together. Since this is my first one, I think I'll wait until I see how Ali's doing hers and check out the albums of the ladies that are linking to her blog.

Week in the Life-Day 6

2011-08-01T09:59:00.001-07:00

Saturday started bright and early for us. Andrew had an early morning business call and so instead of having him drive all the way into work and back on a Saturday, I decided to take the kids garage sale-ing! First step, hitting the ATM for some mad money!

Then, since the garage sales don't start until 8:00 and we took off at 7:30, we hit McDonald's and the kids got to split their first ever Egg McMuffin. They were a little sceptical at first but then they loved it! Aud had juice with her half and all Mickey wanted was a water. I had my favorite, a bacon, egg & cheese biscuit. Those things are heavenly!!!

One of the coolest things we picked up was this guitar. Andrew had jokingly said to buy him something and he never says that. So, we got him some gag glasses at one of the first sales and then we found this guitar. He's secretly always wanted to play the guitar so I was so excited to find this one for only $10!!!

It was another good mail day. I'd won a Facebook contest and my prize was the new Audrey line from My Little Shoebox. I love it! (And not just because of it's awesome name!) Mickey loves opening up scrappy mail with me but gets a bit disappointed. I'm going to have to order him some stuff with my next order so he gets a goodie too! He's started scrapping with me and I even got him his very own real scrap stuff, including my old trimmer!

When we got home Andrew was feverishly mowing the lawn in preparation for Sunday's party. The man is determined to have the best lawn on the street and he's been hand watering it all week and then cross mowed it today. Hee!

Here's what we picked up for a whopping $26.50! It was a much better day for the kids than for me. All I found was a $.25 bag of sequins. They had a blast because I gave them each $5 to buy stuff with. Aud was completely non-plussed but Mickey was super excited and kept it in his pocket the whole time and wasn't scared to pay the people. It was so cute!

Lunch was up next and the kids had PB&J and I had my current obsession, Wheat Thins, a dill pickle and some Tillamook Medium Cheddar. Oh, that is the best cheese! Yummers!!!!

Aud was outside with Andrew and got into the watercolors from yesterday. We think she was putting on makeup. Hee!

Mickey was behaving and playing with his new cars (and Aud's new cars, too!).

My boys resting after setting up for the party.

Audrey was snuggling with Rillah, our cat. When I first got her, she was a skittish nut and I never thought she'd be as good with our kids as she is. Aud can pick her up and drag her around and she's totally fine with it.

My favorite picture from this whole week!

After dinner it was Popsicle time. Mickey chose green.

I finally got some pics of Devo, he's our almost 15 year old Whippet.

After dinner it was time for a much needed bath. Aud's hair doesn't like regular baby shampoo so it's No More Tangles all the way for her.

During bath time, Andrew started reading the book that came with his guitar and it made me sooooo happy. :D

When I was brushing out Aud's hair I was impressed with how long it was getting. She was having fun pretending to put her hair in "piggies"!

After such a long day, I decided to have some relaxing mom time. Good old Harry Potter and my very own bowl of popcorn!

Tomorrow I'll be back with Sunday's photos and a new Dixie Pieces post! I'm excited to start working on my actual Week in the Life album. :)

Week in the Life -Day 5

2011-07-30T16:52:00.001-07:00

Wheeeeeee! I'm doing so well at this. I was a little worried that my Week in the Life project might morph into a Day in the Life. Heh.

This morning I finally got the laundry put away. I'm notorious for getting loads and loads of laundry done and then not putting it away for a few days. :)
Next up, getting my blog posts done and backing up photos so I can get more room on my memory cards. I should have just bought a few new cards but I didn't think about it.

Evidence of Mickey playing on my bed. :::Happy sigh::: Sometimes the emotions of how glad I am to still have these little things just sneak up on me.

Since there's no soccer/playground time today, Mickey suggested Play Doh!

I realized that my scrap room needed some serious attention! The floor was especially ridiculous! I gave the kids a stack of construction paper and it just gets strewn everywhere. I wised up and bought notebooks the other day but haven't switched them out yet.

Not perfect but much better after a good 30 minutes!

Then I had the kids clean up the living room. This is how they like the pillows to be on the couch. :D

And here's the reason I was able to talk them into cleaning up the living room. Painting time!

Painting time didn't last too long because of some serious sibling squabbles. So, I sent both kids to bed. Mickey fought it but this is what I found when I checked on him a bit later.

After they woke up I made them popcorn. I saw this cool way to make popcorn in the microwave using just lunch bags. It works pretty well and the bags can be composted or recycled unlike the store bought ones. Our bags last quite a long time before they tear.

After their nap and a snack they got to head back outside for more painting. This time they cooperated a whole lot more!

We believe in safe iPhone-ing around here! Aud loves her helmet and once it's on it's a bit hard to get her to take it off. :)

Andrew read to the kids and got them all tucked in.

And then Momma got a nice, relaxing bath. Ahhhhhhh!

Two more days!!!

How's your Week in the Life going? :)

Week in the Life -Day 4

2011-07-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Two Week in the Life posts today because yesterday was just too busy to fit blogging in! :)

Sunrise out our master bedroom.

I hit the Target 75% off toy sale and crossed off Christmas and birthday presents for both kids. Score!

Mickey made snack again. Yogurt and Goldfish for the kids. I had a cheese stick and Wheat Thins. (I like to make little sandwiches with mine!) Oh, and the kitchen is a disaster! Hee!

Lunch was "little pizzas" and peaches.

During soccer, when Mickey would run back to us for water, he'd say he was a jet coming in for fuel. During one refueling, I made little dinging noises while he was "filling up" and told him that would cost him one kiss! :)

Today, Mom and Larry, Dad and Andrew all came to watch Mickey play. Of course I didn't get any pics of them but I did get a shot of this brave gopher who was actually quite close to us and very busy.

Today was Mickey's last day of soccer and he got a certificate!

We only played on the playground for a little bit because Karly and Claire were going to meet us at home to go swimming.

I snuck inside to work on a tutorial for Dixie Pieces upcoming newsletter.

Andrew came home early and drug me outside. I got a shot of my pretty petunia that is doing so well. Mainly thanks to my husband's diligent watering.

Audrey finally woke up and joined the other kids on the pool deck.

Karly's mom, my sister-in-law, Kathy came over and we all had Domino's...delivered! Yeah! No cooking for me! :)

After dinner it was back to the pool and Audrey actually got in. Mickey still wasn't having any of it.

After everyone left, we started getting ready for bed and when we went out front to see Daddy watering the plants we saw the neighbor's getting their sheep ready for the fair. Gotta love life in the country! :)

After we got the kids down, Andrew headed off to bed early and I settled in to watch Project Runway and scrap a bit. I had no mojo whatsoever and got nothing done but I enjoyed Project Runway so that's okay.

Three more days of Week in the Life, I'm so proud of myself for keeping up! Maybe today I'll take a shot of the notebook that I'm keeping a timeline in so you can see how horrible my handwriting truly is. (It's bad, it's really, really bad!)

Week in the Life-Day 3

2011-07-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday started off with a bang, or a blow out rather. Miss Thing decided to take off her jammie bottoms (normal) and then finally go potty after a few days of not (not normal). This led to an early morning bath and a scolding.

The morning wasn't all bad though. I weighed myself and I'm back in the 150's. Woot!!!

With the bath and clean up we had a pretty hectic morning and before I knew it, it was snack time. Little Man wanted to make snack today. On the menu? Rainbow Goldfish and raisins!

I did Miss Thing's hair and since she is notorious for taking it out within minutes, I figured it deserved a photo. I was able to get myself in there too! :)

My dad came to watch Mickey play soccer and he brought some late peas from his garden to share.

We were actually a minute or two late for soccer because we'd stopped at Rite Aid to do a quick coupon deal. It didn't turn out exactly as planned but it will still work.

Claire and Karly came to soccer and freed Aud from her stroller. She headed straight for the playground.

Mickey's a pretty enthusiastic soccer player. He'd just scored a goal and was running back to Coach Amanda for a high five.

Hot and sweaty after soccer. (Funny face by his request.)

We headed home after some playground time and put Aud down for a nap. Then, he got to play on Mom's iPhone. Cars 2 is his current favorite.

After a while, I kicked him off the bed so I could nap in preparation for this evening.

Date night!!! Andrew and I went to our first movie since we've been married. The man dislikes going to the movies so that's why it's been over six years since we've gone. We saw Friends With Benefits and really enjoyed it.

Claire and Karly came over to watch the kids.

I left my big camera with them and told them to take as many pictures as they wanted. They did very well and the last few pics of the day are all from them.

Cleatus, our goat.

Mickey, "making a score" on our basketball hoop.

Aud having a popsicle for dessert.

The girls did such a good job with taking pics that I think I'm going to leave my little dSLR with them whenever they watch the kids.

Which reminds me, where are the batteries to that thing??? LOL!

Week in the Life -Day 2

2011-07-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick recap of Day 2. I've gotta be quick because Andrew & I have a date tonight! :D

First up, I made my bed first thing so it wouldn't be as easy to take a nap, I had a lot to do yesterday!

Mickey went out to our "pantry" in the garage to get some more "cerealmilk" for breakfast. This freezer in the garage is where I store my coupon stockpile. It's a freezer from my Granny that isn't turned on. Keeps out the bugs and moisture!

I made myself an omelet this morning because it's Race Day!!!!

Mickey and one of his Lego creations.

Miss Thing and her current favorite toy. It was actually in a wood toy box that I bought in a garage sale.

This is where Miss Thing wrote on herself for the second time today!

Self-portrait at Mickey's soccer. I'm saying, "Hey, I'm in a picture!" LOL!

At soccer, Aud was pulling up grass and throwing it on her cousins, Claire & Karly who came to watch Mickey.

Mickey had another awesome day (aka 45 minutes) of soccer. ;)

It was a happy mail day for me, I ordered some new Authentique (freakin' love that stuff) and some titanium blades for my trimmer. Only like two bucks more and will last waaaaaaaay longer!

No pics of Race Day because they are all on my phone but here is a shot of my cute Race Day hair and my serious Race high! (The glass of Guinness may have contributed to the high as well.)

It was an awesome day! I ran the whole 5K and I didn't stop once. My time goal was to beat 45 minutes and I ran it in 33 minutes and 41 seconds. Squeal!!!!

See you tomorrow!

Week in the Life -Day 1

2011-07-26T12:20:00.001-07:00

I'm really excited to be doing Ali Edward's A Week in the Life project. I've wanted to do it before but never did because my house was too messy or our week was too boring or too busy. This time, I just decided to do it. It has made for some creative shots, hee! Seriously though, the perspective I've gained since Mickey's accident has made me realize that if I wait for the perfect time, it will never be the right time.

So, here's some photos from Day 1!

It poured down rain this morning, gotta love late July in Oregon!

My normal breakfast. I'd already taken my vitamins so they didn't make the shot.

Mickey's first day of soccer. He did it last year and is loving it even more this year.

My niece Claire came to watch and she and Audrey shared a snack. In other words, Audrey at all her cantalope!

Afterwards, Mickey requested playground time. Last year he wouldn't participate in soccer the first day and the second, he'd only do it if I was sitting out on the field. On the third day I told him that if he wanted to play on the playground afterwards, he'd have to not be shy and do what the coaches wanted. After soccer today he ran up to me and said, "I wasn't shy at all, Mom! Can I play on the playground?". It's so funny that he remembered that from last year!

After soccer we ran errands and Aud fell asleep on the way home as it was way past nap time. So, I caught a shot of us in the reflection of our car's window. Yay! I'm in a pic!

We ate dinner outside, it was Breakfast for Dinner and the kids helped make it.

After dinner we had some clean up time. Partly because if the house is going to get photographed I ought to at least try and clean it and partly because we're hosting my niece's college grad party on Sunday. Fortunately, Mickey still loves to vacuum.

Story time for Miss Aud. I had Mickey go get Daddy and tell him to bring the camera. This is how we sit every night for story, unless Daddy is reading both of them a story. I'm sooooo glad I have this pic!

And, The Bachelorette! Andrew and I watch it, even when it's lame, and it's kind of become our thing. It's two hours long so I always try to find something productive to do during it. Wether it's scrapping or like last night, catching up on my blogs and doing a Studio Calico blog hop, I gotta do something!

I'm so excited that I've done so well, so far! It's only been a day and a half but I'm hopeful I can keep it up. :)

Are you doing Week in the Life???

Still Lovin' My iPhone!

2011-07-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

I love the size of the Instagram prints, so fun to scrap with!

And, I've found that the very best place to print them is http://www.scrapbookpictures.com/!!! I'd always known that they had lots of square options for pictures. 3x3 is my current favorite for printing the majority of my Instagram photos and I get a 4x4 of ones I really love.

The thing I didn't know is that they carry the 4x5.33 size! Now, why is this important? Because it's the size that my regular camera on my iPhone takes! Woot!!! If I was going to order them at Costco I'd have to either place each photo on a 4x6 white canvas in Photoshop (time consuming!) or crop out part of my pictures (not acceptable!).

My current plan is to order my iPhone pics from http://www.scrapbookpictures.com/ monthly. I did that with June's iPhone pics and four out of the last five of my layouts have used them. Love that!

I'm still trying to get better about blogging the everyday stuff with these photos. I may start e-mailing the photos to myself or just figure out a schedule of uploading.

I like schedules.

I'm on a running training schedule, the Couch to 5K program and I have only one more training run left (Monday) until my first 5K on Tuesday. I'm pretty darn excited! :D I took a pic of myself with my iPhone while running. Couldn't resist! LOL!

I've done most of my runs on a treadmill in our garage. It's just easier with the kids.

We tried to go for a walk the other day and Aud wanted to ride her tricycle instead of get pushed in the stroller.

It was fun but it only lasted 10 minutes.

Here's a shot of the kids sleeping in the bed with me. Andrew had left pretty early that morning and both the kids had woken up with him. After he left, they decided to come sleep with me and actually fell asleep! This never happens, normally they just giggle and scuffle and make noise until I kick them out.

I wouldn't have been able to get this shot before because I would have woken them up getting up to grab my big camera. But, with my iPhone right there on my nightstand, I was able to get this sweet shot.

I love my iPhone!

Pink and Yellow!

2011-07-08T10:19:00.001-07:00

Just poppin' in with some paper goodness in pink and yellow!

First up, my congrats card that I entered in the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol contest. There were over 1600 entries and shockingly, ;) mine didn't get picked as one of the 20 finalists. Hee! I still love it anyway. A gal commented on it in Flickr and said it was innovative. That made me soooo stinkin' happy that I really consider it a winner in it's own right. :)

My next little goodie is something I made with the new Authentique paper I picked up at Craft Warehouse the other weekend. I was at a Saturday crop with some of the Punky gals and we made a food/scrap run and found a big display of Authentique. It's Margie Romney-Aslet's new line and while I'm going to miss The Girl's Paperie (her old company) I'm thinking that Authentique will be able to make the pain a bit more bearable. Hee!
One of the coolest things about this line is the little die cuts. I have to admit, at first I was a bit bummed that they were die cuts and not stickers. Until I flipped them over, that is. She put a coordinating pattern on the back of her die cuts! So, lets say that you won't be able to use one that says "sing", well flip it over and you have a super cute base for another of the die cuts. This is just brilliant as it makes these so much more versatile!

I got a few papers from each line, some die cuts and the cute word stickers in each color. You'll be seeing more Authentique around here in no time. :)

Well, I'm off! I'm taking Mickey and Audrey to the local airport to meet and thank the LifeFlight crew that helped save him. Combine seeing a helicopter with watching the last space shuttle take off this morning on the news and my Little Man is one happy little dude.

Have a good one!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's a great day to celebrate today! Not only do are we thankful for those who serve our country and keep us free, but there are a few other reasons we are celebrating around here, too!

~My nephew, Phillip and his wife, just welcomed a little girl to their family! Little Paige was born yesterday! It's very cool because Phillip is in the military and was able to come home for her birth!

~I made a fresh strawberry pie from scratch yesterday!!!

~I also ran 3.5 miles without stopping yesterday! This will be helpful when it comes time to eat the previously mentioned pie! ;)

~It's been two months exactly since Mickey's accident and every day I feel so very grateful that he's still here with us.

~The four of us went to Molalla to watch their parade this morning. Molalla's won out over Canby's because their parade is bigger and earlier in the day so it's a much more comfortable temperature!

The kids loved it! Audrey's favorite part was "tractors" and "gettin' candy". Mickey liked the boat and he thought the clowns were pretty funny too. They got a ton of candy but wouldn't go very far out to get it. Andrew and I would either walk them out into the street or toss it to them from the street if they wouldn't come with us. Too funny!

The funniest parts for me were the clowns, the Shriners cruisin' on matching four wheelers, the motorized port-a-potty (so freakin' funny!) and Mickey, seeing Ronald McDonald on a float, yelling out "He's real!!!". Couldn't stop laughing over that one! :D

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th!!! :)

Dixie Pieces---Tropical Paradise!!!

2011-07-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! This month the kit at Dixie Pieces is called Tropical Paradise! It is so bright and colorful and it just made me happy opening the box! :)

There is sooooo much in this kit (one of my favorite things about DP is how Sherry packs the goodies in there) that this time I thought I'd post the list of what's included.

Papers
(single sheets of 12x12 unless otherwise stated)
Basic Grey Lauderdale Rose Colored Glass (double sided)
Basic Grey Lauderdale SPF (double sided)
Basic Grey Lauderdale Sound Wave (double sided)
Fancy Pants Beach Babe Beach Bound (double sided)
Fancy Pants Beach Babe Fish Farm (double sided))
Pink Paislee Soiree Trellis (double sided)
Harmonie Vintage (double sided)
Echo Park Summer Days Rainbow (double sided)
Echo Park Summer Days Big Dots (double sided)
Bazzill Basics Cardstock -Intense Kiwi, Watermelon Sensation, Artisan Pool, Yam

Embellishments
Bella Blvd Black/White/Grey Alphabet Stickers
American Crafts Thickers Rocketeer Black Alphabet
Pink Paislee Printed Tissue Paper Lime Dots
Maya Road Watermelon Coaster Album
Zva Creative Pink Bracket Rhinestones
Cat Eye Pigment Ink in Surf
White Shipping Tags
Buttons Galore White
Maya Road Zipper White (1/2 Yard)
Teal Grosgrain Ribbon (1 Yard)

Tons of goodies!!! Here are the layouts I made with my kit this month. First up, a two-pager!!! I'd been wanting to scrap these pics of Aud trying to crawl forever and the striped Echo Park paper just screamed out to be used! It matches the onesie she's wearing almost perfectly!

Next up, I finally documented my love of Diet Mtn Dew in a can. If you've ever been cropping with me, you know that I always bring a little stash along with me. (Or not so little if it's going to be a few days!) I don't like coffee or tea so my normal way of getting caffeine in my system is to Dew it! LOL! I love, love, love the Pink Paislee tissue paper and I had such fun with making my buttons look like bubbles. :) I also loved how the Basic Grey paper looks so much like the pattern on my Mtn Dew can, meant to be I tell ya!

The last layout I made is another monochromatic one but it's all pink baby! My niece, Claire, was playing Candyland with Audrey over Spring Break and they were having so much fun. Aud can't play by the rules yet but with Claire, you don't need rules anyway! (Love that niece of mine!!!)

Finally, here are the cards I made with this kit. I love the cards I made this month. They are very simple (shocker, I know) but sooooo fun! This first one I wanted to do from the moment I opened my kit. The idea just popped into my head and it drove me nuts that I had to finish my layouts before I could start this card. I had to make sure I wasn't going to be punching any hearts out of what might become the center of a layout! LOL!

Finally, this card is my favorite. I love the zipper trim that was included and I wanted to make a sort of lollipop flower with it. I'd seen a lot of the twisty, spiral ones but I thought that the zipper would make a great edge for the circles of the lollipop flower. I am soooo happy with how it turned out. (However, I need to quit photographing my white backgrounded cards on white paper! Hee!)

So, there you have it, my creations for July using Dixie Pieces Tropical Paradise kit!

Oh, and I wanted to tell you guys, in lieu of specific challenges this month, the design team is going to be posting a layout made from a past kit every day for you to scrap lift! We're rotating days and my first day is tomorrow! :) For every one of these creations that you scraplift, you will receive an entry into the drawing this month for a store gift certificate! It's that easy! Just post your lifts to the gallery and link them to the appropriate threads by July 31st at 11:59pm PST! So, get scrappin'! :D

iPhone Love!!!

2011-06-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

So, I finally talked myself into getting an iPhone. It's been something I've been thinking about for quite a few months now and with the $50 iPhone 3 offer, I finally jumped!

I love it! I've gotten quite a few apps, photography, games for me, games for the kids, facebook, pinterest, all sorts of goodies! I love it and my only regret is that I didn't get it sooner!

I really wanted it for a C25K app that I'd seen and more importantly I wanted it for taking photos. I was pretty sure that it would not only increase the amount of photos that I took of me and the kids but also increase the amount of photos I printed. I was right! It's so much easier to use. I still adore my big camera but when I use the Instagram app, I can take a pic of the kids, put a funky edit on it and then it's ready to print! They also take up less room on my computer. Bonus!

I also found a food/exercise tracker that I'm really happy with and I'm back on my way to losing weight.

It's really been helping me to keep track of stuff too. I'm one of those who forgets stuff if I don't write it down. It's especially bad lately because my sleeping is not doing so hot. I still wake up worried about the kids and have to go check on them and it takes me a while to get to sleep in the first place. No fun!

Anyway, now that I've figured out how to get my photos from my phone to my computer, I'll have more day to day blog posts. Yay!!! :)