Get Ready!

"Brilliant" is on it's way! I'm super excited to show you the whole kit! It will be up for sale first thing in the morning at 8:00 a.m. CST. Be sure to check back for the full reveal in the morning! There are sneak peeks up on Holly's blog, Lexi's blog, and Amanda's. Check it out!
We enjoyed a nearly 80 degree day here...and it's going to be in the 80's tomorrow! It's just weird to be wearing shorts so early, but I'll take it! :) We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head to the park to fly kites. We had so much fun! I've decided it's been WAY too long since I've flown a kite. See you tomorrow!

Loving it!

SO...I've had a few days with my sister and her sweet little family who are here for a visit. We have had a lot of fun. For Holly's birthday I surprised her with concert tickets to see Winter Jam (which was awesome by the way.) We have also had some late night scrapping sessions and lots of chatting and catching up. It's been great!
The kids have had a LOT of fun too! Poor Chloe has a double ear infection and we went straight to the doctor right after this little shopping trip this afternoon. You would never know by the sweet smile on her little face. And I have to give a big shout out to Kroger (the grocery store) for supplying these awesome kid-sized carts. Hours of entertainment...but a little bit hard to keep track of 3 wandering kiddos.
She bought some bananas. And a big watermelon. (It's her favorite food of all time.)

My gallery got the finishing touches put on it today. Here's a few more sneak peeks!

How was everyone's weekend? I am working on a post all about Tanner's big birthday bash on Saturday. It turned out so cute, and he had so much fun! Happy Tuesday! Can you believe that it's almost April?

Like a chicken...

Today I am running. Getting things done. My sister and brother-in-law and kids are coming for a visit. (Insert huge smiling face :) This means I need to clean the house from corner to corner and set up a toddler bed for my nephew. This also means I need to work on my gallery...here is a peek at what I've done so far. I think I need to take a few deep breaths! :)
This week was filled with dentist appointments...she did SO well by the way. Going back all by herself...with her nervous Momma peeking around the corner a few times to check on her. She is ALL about dental hygiene now, and flossing, and sparkly teeth. So cute.
This week was also full of play dates with the neighbor kids and walks through the forest. (I usually stay on the beaten path because I don't like getting too near the wildlife, if you know what I mean...namely the snakes!) So as we walked down a ravine on the way home from the neighbors through the woods...Chloe narrowly misses stepping on a big old snake, sending all of us hollering and running for our dear lives. I may have to explain to the neighbors that no one was being killed in the woods (even though I'm pretty sure that is how it sounded) but we were merely trying to get OUT of there! :) Did I mention that snakes are #1 on my list of fears. Um yeah #1! I tried to put on a brave face for them...really I did. It was traumatic to say the least.

There was a lot of celebrating going on around here last night...and cake and presents. And now I'm preparing for the entire class to come to the party tomorrow. Lord, give me strength! :)

There is so much to do...but I am SO looking forward to it. Making memories and making life special for the ones we love, never gets old. Hope you have a great Friday!

7 years old...

Yikes! (Get ready for a sappy Momma post.) When I was a little girl I had dreams and aspirations of being a pilot or a photographer or the first female president...but the most important thing I wanted to "be" was a Momma. I was babysitting and volunteering in the church nursery from the time I was little, and I loved it. I became a teacher because I loved working with kids. I have been around the world to work in orphanages, finding my passion in life. And then it happened...I was given one of the greatest gifts of my life, Tanner Graham. The sweetest, most well behaved 8 lb. 7 oz. baby. Slept through the night at 5 weeks old. The most mellow, easy-going personality. The cutest thing EVER! The silliest, most passionate boy. Sensitive and loving. A great big brother. With a laugh that you can't help but laugh right along with.
You are one in a million gazillion trillion. You have an unbelievable imagination.
You are passionate about the things you love, and sensitive to others.

You are a happy little world traveler and adapt to new people and places so easily.

You are a gift. A miracle. A song that my soul knows by heart. You represent all that is good in the world. Don't ever let anyone make you doubt yourself. I believe in you my sweet boy...deep, deep, down and I know that God has amazing things in store for you, and I am so proud of who you are becoming! Thank you for being just you. For filling my life with laughter and joy and silliness and your art and your song. Just KNOW my sweet boy, that this Momma loves you all the way to the moon and back. 7 years old...I just can't believe it. Happy Birthday Tan!

Just in case...

...you were wondering what the April kit was like. Here are the patterned papers. Super cute right?
And a little peek at some of the embellishments. :)
I also had to give everyone the heads up that I somehow accidentally erased SEVERAL contacts from one of my distribution lists. (Meaning your newsletter sign up information.) SO if you don't receive the newsletter I'm sending out today, please sign up for the newsletter again. I have tried everything I can to retrieve them and haven't had any luck. Sometimes technology is just NOT my friend. I always post the newsletter here, so be checking for it here as well! Hope you had a great weekend!

Friday night crop!

Headed out to a crop tonight...it's time! I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be back with some sneaks to share tomorrow! :) I always love it when I have a kit to work with...I have SO much less to bring. Thought I would share a few party things I have run across that are to-die-for in my party planning hunt. Aren't these the cutest? Too bad you can't order them online unless you know Japanese!! :)

You could very easily make these cups using rub-ons or stickers or a die cut machine. Too cute!And I just love this robot...he was an etsy find...but was sold out and no longer listed. Boo! (Thought you might like to see him mom.)

Have a happy Friday!!

Take me to your leader...

As promised here are a few shots of the robot party invites. (Thanks for holding me accountable to finish them up!) I thought I might NEVER finish them. And considering that Tanner was convinced that he needed to invite his entire class (girls too!) I had to make quite a few! I tried talking some sense into him and telling him that we should just invite the boys, to which he responded "Mom if I don't invite Izzy...it will break her heart!" How can I argue with that?? So we have invited 22 kids to his party. Anyone want to come help? LOL! The message inside says "Mark your calendar and save the date because robot parties are really great! Gidgets, gadgets, gizmo's too,we'll have super fun things to do. Games to play, robots to make, when we're done we’ll eat some cake!"
This is a silly picture I took at the gym yesterday morning. Like the nice fog? It's been pretty much like this every morning, and then clear and sunny later. See the dog in the back of the SUV? The owner left him like that and as people came out to their cars or parked near him he would bark and snarl and scare them to death! The most ironic part of this photo is what his license plate says...(you may need to click to enlarge)
Faux Pas...yes, it said faux pas. Ironic no?

Flip Video

Here it is...

Pardon the random "balloon interference." Don't you just wish you could scrapbook a video sometimes? I mean seriously...if I could just freeze them at this age I SO would!

Happy Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here is another sneak peek of April's kit...and YES that is an exclusive felt shape made by my wonderful Mom! Isn't it the cutest little thing? I still haven't had a chance to play with mine at all...but I am planning to this weekend for sure! I also have a few new Maya mists that I am anxious to play with! And I still have some robot party invites to finish. I'm hoping that putting this on the blog and *PrOmIsiNg* to post pics of them tomorrow will make me actually follow through and finish them!
I also have a little video I took of the kids this afternoon and blogger has been fighting with me about posting it here...I have been trying for the last 2 hours...maybe I'll try again later! Hugs!

Say hello to my little friend...

I found it at a little local shop called "Relics" that is my all-time favorite store in Peoria. If you are in the area...be sure to stop by (it's right on the river!) It is also now my children's favorite store because they were having a Spring Open House on Saturday and they had cookies and chocolates and Deb (the owner) gave them both bird feathers to play with and take home. Not sure how much they'll love it when we go next time and there are no cookies? :) It always scares me to death taking them into places like that, they are usually pretty good about not touching things and being patient...but they are also "very curious" as Tanner likes to remind me. That is his excuse for a lot of things these days. I'll often hear "I couldn't help it Mom, cause I was just SO curious." It must be a boy thing. (Or a boy who watches too much Curious George? Take your pick.) I love this silly machine so much I may have to give it a name! It is replacing my super rad 1983 broken electric typewriter I picked up at the thrift store for $4. May it RIP...it served its purpose well. But now it's out with the ugly and in with the cute!

Oh and one more quick thing. SNEAK PEEK! April is shaping up to be wonderful! Love the bright cheeriness of this kit!
Hope you're week is off to a great start!

Rainy day...

Sorry for my brief absence, it's a rainy day here and so I have been busy making some robot party invitations for my little guys birthday party, AND organizing and putting away a stack of layouts that needed to be put into albums. HoLy CoW that's a big job! As I was putting them into albums I could hardly remember which year we spent Christmas here and which year we spent Christmas in Colorado. I am going to have to do a better job of labeling with not just he date but the year. (Scrapbooking 101 right? Apparently I need a refresher course :) Otherwise I will just have to hope that they are in some kind of chronological order...and get over it! LOL! I really could, and sometimes do, spend all day in my scrapbook room. There is always something else I want to finish or work on, or put away, or get out. Or a stack of pictures I want to look through. I was on my laptop last night going through some old photos and was just in tears at how many wonderful memories I have had the privilege to witness. Many of those pictures I never got around to scrapbooking, because as I'm sure you do to...I take SO many! The longer I scrapbook, the more picky I get about which ones "make the cut" and actually get scrapped. But that doesn't mean I still love looking through them. I'm blessed. Blessed beyond what I deserve...thank the Lord!

Last night I was reading design blogs and I came across the link to THESE by Poolga. Fun! They are free wallpapers for your iphone. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, there were some really fun ones. (There were also some really icky ones so browse carefully my friends!) Which one do you like best?

The kids are begging me to take them to run errands today...we are out of drawing paper, which basically = the end of the world as we know it to them! They have finally broken down now and are drawing on the back side of some older drawings. I think it's inevitable...but who wants to go out on a rainy day? Not me! :) Hope your weekend is off to a sunny start!

Fans...

Yes we are...meeting up with Samantha Sibbet and Lexi Bridges for CHA was a blast! This is the last project I finished using my March kit. When I think about combining palm trees and sunshine, along with new friends, tons of brand new products, Inn-n-Out Burger, Anthropology shopping, and late night scrap sessions...and you have pretty much described heaven on earth from my point of view. This little instax photo (man I want one of those SO bad! Sam and Lexi both had one and I felt so left out :) was taken in Target as we were getting some snacks for our scrapping session that night. I am a grown woman and was walking around Target in my flannel jammies at 9 p.m. It was hilarious!
I added the fabric thickers from February's kit last month. This was a super simple page. 6X12 sized. It's always fun to switch up the size of layouts you make I think. This little instax photo would have drowned on a 12x12 page!
The first thing I did with my kit was cut this lady out of the patterned paper. She's just so fancy that I had to use her! :)

Thanks for all of your kind comments on yesterdays post. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one feeling all of those pressures and expectations. We really all have so much in common you know? And we had the most beee-autiful spring-like day here today. It was almost enough to distract me from my taxes that need to be done looming over my head! :)

Just be exactly who you are...

Yep. That is pretty much the best advice I could give. Just be who you were created to be! I look around sometimes at the pressures I feel are placed on women...are you a size 2? Do you have flawless skin? Are you a super-mom who's children are always perfect? Do you volunteer and are on every committee? Do you make a 4 course meal every night for your family? Are you always "put together?" Let's face it...this list could go ON and ON. We are faced with trying to be someone elses idea of perfect...when really the only person who I want to please is the Lord. And you know I think he could care less if I am wearing make-up and if the house is spotless. I for the most part do strive to make our life run smoothly, and I do want my kids to eat their veggies, and LORD knows I don't leave the house without make-up on. (Because that would just be cruel to the rest of mankind. You have not seen me without it. But that's just me.) It's always a good idea to take a step back and think about who you are living your life to please. I am learning to be content at this time in my life. To not be running around trying to be something or someone who I am NOT. Maybe I should write this card to ME! :)
I whipped this up with "Clothespin." So simple and easy. (And on a side-note this one is NOT gonna make it through the post office sorting machine! This is a hand-to-someone-card. LOL!)
Sorry to get up on my soapbox today...but boy...sometimes I feel so much pressure to be someone I wasn't intended to be. And it's just me going against God's plan for me. I just need to be exactly who I am...the rest are just details. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Uno, dos, tres...

One more gallery project to share today...and a few more sitting on my scrap table that I will share soon! One thing I noticed about my gallery this month was that I added a lot of journaling. I guess I just had a lot to say on these pages? I took this picture of Chloe in the check out aisle at Walmart as she was telling me to "say CHEESE mama." The lady behind us in line was laughing at us both taking pictures of each other taking pictures. Instead of that being the story I wanted to tell...I really wanted to write about what this picture reminded me of. (Journaling close up below.)

I added lots of layers here. I cut a few hearts from the sewing pattern and pinned them with a old pearl pin to add to the sewing feel of the embellishments. I also punched butterflies and layered the different patterns to give them a bit more interest. There is a fabric flower under there somewhere and also a few leaves cut from the famous paper in my last post. That chipboard flower comes just the way you see it! LOVE it! :)

Journaling reads: "Looking at this picture makes me want to remember your half-worn-off nail polish, the exact color of your hair that summer, this polka-dot shirt that I liked so much I bought it for you in 2 different colors. Your messy hair at the end of the day...(including the lovely haircut you had just given yourself.) The way you approach the world with child-like wonder...even the check-out lane at Walmart is full of found treasures to you! I have so much to learn from you!"

And one last shot of another sewing pattern layered flower I made in a smaller version with a sewn on button. I like the way this page turned out!

And since today is a rainy, gloomy kind of day here in the Midwest...I've decided to list a few things that brightened my day today.

1. Bubbalicious watermelon gum while I pumped iron with the manly men at the gym this morning...blowing bubbles and smiling inside the whole time. They must think I'm crazy! :) So GOOD!

2. The birds singing outside this morning...that MUST mean spring is coming!

3. A new pair of thrifted rain boots! (I got stopped by 3 little old ladies at the grocery store who told me how cute they were. And if they like em' well then SO DO I!) Chloe talked me into buying them...and to tell you the truth I can't imagine why I haven't gotten a pair of them sooner! Totally practical and comfy too!
4. Lunch date with Chloe and her entourage of Littlest Pet Shop animals who also each had a plate of food and a drink as well. :)

5. A chat with my sister!

6. Getting a lot crossed off the to-do list!

7. And I have to say, one of the best parts of my day is picking up Tanner from school. He walks out the front doors searching the sea of cars for ours...and once he sees us...well his face just lights up like a light bulb and this shy little smile creeps up from the corners of his mouth. I love that look.

What's brightening your day today?

Ton-O-Flowers

This post is dedicated to the flowers on this GCD paper from the kit. This was my favorite paper from the entire show. (It was hard to narrow it down to just one...but this one stood out the most to me.) So I turned this...
Into this...a little layout about my sweetie.
Love these sweet chipboard letters...so versatile.
In this shot you can really see the flocking on the leaves, and the sweet little buttons from the kit.

As I layered the flowers I curled up the edges of the blossoms to make them more dimensional.

And the journaling.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Flower Petals & Galleries

Putting my 6 year old to bed tonight he sweetly whispered in my ear "you smell just like the petal on a flower." I'm telling you...parenthood is a gift! A gift to treasure and cherish and soak up! But you knew that. Right? I wanted to share a project from my gallery with you...and I must admit that his page is definitely more "cutesy" than I usually like. I don't have an babies at my house anymore and I haven't scrapbooked anything baby in a long time. But in trying to come up with something creative to do with my fabric banner I thought this little sailboat would be perfect! I trimmed a piece of the Sassafras paper to fit inside of it and sewed it on. I then used a few layers of the vintage pattern to layer underneath it to give it even more dimension.
The wavy border of the paper was perfect for the boat to "float" on!
I freehand cut the boat out of some of the GCD paper in the kit and then used corrugated cardboard underneath to give it some texture and pop it off the page. I sewed it all around the edges to give it an outline. Finally I added some journaling underneath it saying "Sorrow looks down, worry looks around, faith looks up!" I took this picture of the kids on a missions trip to Myanmar in southeast Asia. They were filthy after a day at the orphanage and were standing watching some other kids play at this small park. The word strip sticker that is super hard to read in the photo says "Forgive the past and fall in love with today." Good advice...very good.

The only thing used here not in the kit is this little Gap teddy bear sticker. Every time we go to the Gap they give the kids one of these little guys. I think he's pretty cute...and I needed a passenger for my boat. I added a newsprint sailor hat (I had to call my mom to remind me how to fold the hat...hadn't made one of these in for-ever!) She knew, of course. I actually used print out of my phone book, so that I didn't have messy newsprint in my album.

Just so you can see it up close. :)

I will be back with some more of the gallery tomorrow! Hope you had a great day!