A little Summer Breeze

My first official DT projects are up today over on My Little Shoebox blog, and I thought I'd share them with you here too. ;)

I altered this clipboard for Caroline to do her schoolwork on, and she LOVES it, especially the glittery alpha stickers. I love that the argyle print make it feel school-ish too. ;)


I also made some cards. Going with the school-theme, I made my own "argyle" with a Fiskars squeeze punch. Then I added the little birdy stamp to give it just a touch of whimsy.

I made this one layering a lot of the die-cuts. (I LOVE those things!) They're a great way to "ground" your sentiment on the card so it's not just floating in middle.

And last is this little card. I'll admit that I didn't come up with the 'hang in there' idea for the clothesline stickers that are all the rage. But I couldn't resist NOT using it either. Especially when I have several friends that could use it right now. ;)
And as you may have already guessed, this month the MLS DT was sponsored by Fiskars and I generously received two punches, Square-A-Licious squeeze punch, and the Effervescence Border Punch. Before now I'd never used a squeeze punch, and I really like using them! It's so easy! My girls like punching with it too. And of course I love any border punch that's made, so Effervescence is no different. Thank you Fiskars for being so generous to me! :D

It's that time again!

Time for this year's Treasured Scrapbooking's Treasure Hunt, a month great challenges, fun camaraderie, and dare I say it? Eliminations. This week started week #1 with a recipe challenge. We were to do/use the following:
--2 pictures taken by you
--5 word title
--patterned paper by 3 mfr.'s
--only one piece of cardstock
--5 buttons
--something handmade (mine is the doodling)

"Things I love about You"

(pp--Fancy Pants background, Echo Park, My Minds Eye printed kraft, Bazzill cs, stickers and die-cuts also by Echo Park. Also used were Glimmer Mist, misc. buttons, 3D foam tape)

One thing I really love about the Treasure Hunt is that I'm stretched to design with specific items, yet still stay true to myself and my style. Last year I made some of my all-time favorite LOs thanks to the Treasure Hunt. I hope this year will be the same. I really like this LO about Sarah Kate, and I L-O-V-E working with Echo Park papers and embellishments!

Well, that's about it. Hope you're having a great weekend!

I forgot to mention

that I get to post this in some of my galleries! :D :D :D

I'll have a layout in an upcoming issue of Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks Etc. magazine! The April 2011 issue I think. ;) Yipppeee!!!

playing beauty shop

I'm learning very quickly that my kids don't play with toys. Nope. They'd rather get in to things like, oh...say...bath gel, fingernail polish, and this past week...baby lotion! Sarah Kate is notorious for finding any spare lotion, "hanitizer", and even bug repellent in the form of lotion. (I didn't know they still made that, and I certainly didn't know we had any.) Leave it to her to find it though!

She found more the other day, and play beauty shop with it! LOL! This was the end result. She's so proud! Ha! I promise one day SK's going to be wearing the white Clinque lab coat asking passersby if they'd like her to do their lipstick.


So for Christmas, no more toys. Just lotions, lip glosses, hair accessories, and "jew-ry". Won't Daddy be thrilled. (Nope.)

Trying to Enjoy the Season

This summer kind of had a theme--beat the heat. Because when we didn't I notice bright red faces in all the pictures (like ones at the ballpark). We spent lots of time at the lake, the May's pool, our backyard pool and even making our own slip n slide. I also let the girls discover Sonic slushes this summer, which they love. Hence the blue tongue picture. ;) And of course the main event of this summer was bringing McClain into our family. So this layout is a very quick recap of our summer.

And I had to include a "new 'do" photo of Caroline too. It's since gotten shorter (don't know whether to laugh or cry). She'd gotten so many compliments on her haircut she decided to do it again. (sigh) She now has no bangs. And at the same time, Sarah Kate decided to "be like Caroline". So after 3 painstaking years of trying to get her hair to grow, we're now back at square one. SK looks like the 60s model Twiggy just to give you an idea of how short hers is. And scissors are forever banished from our house! My scrap scissors are hidden in the far recesses of my laundry room cabinet where one would have to climb over washer and dryer and then dig to find them!

So that's been our summer in a nutshell--water activities, slushes, a major scissor crisis, and a brand new precious baby!

I'm trying to Enjoy the Season through THIS season of my life. Right now it's full of very little sleep, childhood curiosities and parental frustrations. But it's also full of sweet newborn snuggles, tender big sister/baby brother moments, little girls playing "house" with babies in their tummies, and joy in my heart that I'm here to witness all these things--the good and the bad. I'm rejoicing, or at least trying to, for these blessed moments, regardless of the minor setbacks that seem so major at the time.

I've been wanting to take one of these pictures since I found out I was pregnant with Mac and just wanted to share. ;)

sibling love not rivalry...yet

It's been one month since Mac was born, and I must say that the girls have done really well with him. Sure we've had a few attention getting issues, like the cutting of hair (multiple times from both girls now. sigh.) But they really do love him. There hasn't been any jealousy issues, and everyone likes to help. And I'm getting used to having THREE kids. (I was at a baby shower over the weekend where I kept wanting to introduce them by saying, "And these are my 2 kids" out of habit. Three seems like and sounds like so many!) But overall we're adjusting well, hanging in there, and I'm trying to get as much sleep as possible. And I'm learning to function when I don't--hello my dear friend Diet Coke. I'd missed you for 9 months!

Anyway, that's the scoop from around here.

(And trying to end my blog with that statement makes me hear Garrison Keller's voice in my head. He signs off each Prairie Home Companion with, "And that's the news from Lake Woebegone. Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average." I've been scarred for life thanks to Dad's favorite radio program.)

Sorry. Random tangents. Hearing voices in my head now. Only 4 hrs. of sleep last night.

Sketch challenge

Today My Little Shoebox announced a new feature, a sketch challenge, in which the winner will receive her (or his) choice of an entire new collection. How awesome is that! AND it's not due until Sept. 13th, so you've got a whole month to do it! Check out the other DT girls take on it here.
And here's my take. I modified it a little, by using a large rectangle instead of a circle and moving the flower around. I also added a few more embellishments like the buttons and the butterfly (which are from my stash).

Again I used the "Summer Breeze" line, because I just can't get enough of it! It's just so perfect my girls and my pictures!

Well, hope you have a great weekend! I'm hoping to get some rest! ;)

Solace

I've been playing with the new My Little Shoebox papers, and boy do I love them! This month I've been working with "Summer Breeze". I love its colors, they're just so refreshing. And another thing that I love is how versatile this line is to change up scrap styles.

In fact, the other night I was completely "done" and all I wanted to do was play with my scrap stuff and have some "me" time. And by "play" I mean literally play with the product. No overthinking, no stressing about a deadline or a dt call announcement. Just playing. And it was so liberating! And I guess you could say I found some solace when I was creating "Solace"! Ha! (sorry--I've gone without a lot of sleep lately)



I played with inks on this one. I found an old walnut stain dauber I've had forever, and decided to give it a go. So I stained the pp, the edges, some white ric rac, even gave it my first attempt at the droplets technique everybody seems to be doing now. All in all I had a lot of fun! And that's what creating is supposed to be about! And who knew MLS could be so shabby chic?!

Check back soon for more "Summer Breeze" layouts! I've been having so much fun with this darling little line! ;)

Boy, oh boy!

Okay, so I love that smiley faced photo of McClain so much that I HAD to scrap it right away! Yes, I'm a dork like that! ;) And I also found a sketch that I fell in love with, so that made it much easier. It's this one from Becky Fleck (on the PageMaps blog.)



I started out strictly doing the sketch but then it kind of wandered in to something else, a little more "me" I guess.




I used mainly October Afternoon products, with a little bit of My Little Shoebox paper added in there, Prima flowers, Fancy Pants rub-ons, KI transparencies (or they could be K & Co.), Sassafras woodgrain letters, AC thickers, and I have no clue who made that twill ribbon with the damask print on it. It's realllly old.

Anyway, so that's my take on Becky's sketch. You can try it too. The contest for it isn't over until Aug. 15th, so there's plenty of time to get your submission in. And who wouldn't want to win THAT prize! WOW! I've totally got a scrap crush on the new company Echo Park! Their papers are just so yummy!

Until next time...enjoy the middle of your week!

Smiley!

Are you tired of baby photos yet? Just let me know when you are, and I'll stop. But for now I'll just keep going. :D

Smitten

We're all a little smitten around here with this little guy. None more so than his daddy. And these are a few of my favorite pictures from the hospital. Mac had just joined us from the NICU, and was having some Daddy/little dude time. It's all so precious to me, seeing Josh with him.

Couldn't stay away for long!

There's just too much in me that needs to create something! So of course I've been in my (newly organized thanks to Sarah and Emma) scrap room playing when I've had a spare moment or two.





And because I have a newly organized scrap room, I've found a whole lot of older product I didn't realize I still had! Gee, imagine that! So I've been trying to put it to good use.

I couldn't pass up on these cute little animals in this older Making Memories paper line. I hand-cut them, then popped them up on 3D foam square to give them more emphasis. I hand-cut the flocked letters too, and I love the subtle texture they add!

And just for giggles, here's my latest favorite picture.


He'll be 3 wks. old tomorrow. Can't believe how fast that's gone!! Sheesh!

What a day!

Whew! Thank goodness Monday is over with! It's been quite the day, and definitely a Monday for sure. It started off with getting spit up all in my hair in this morning, which I thought was no biggie. But as I type, I've yet to get a shower. Ew! Also, SK decided she'd get sick today, in our bed no less, and she's continued to get sick all evening.

But what made the day most eventful was catching Caroline run through the dining room wearing what looked like a bad mullet wig. I quickly realized that it was HER hair, and immediately asked, "Caroline, where's the rest of your HAIR???!!!" Her response? "It's in my pink bucket Mommy," said as matter-of-factly as possible. I think my eyes bulged out for a second. Then reality hit as I tried to run my fingers through what was left of her hair.

And now we have a new hairstyle. Almost 9 inches cut off. Sigh....

Here, you can see how short it is in the back.

I keep telling myself it's just hair, it'll grow back.
And it's definitely not what defines us or our beauty.
But it's still hard not to be a little sad.
All those baby curls and blonde ringlets are gone,
and they probably won't grow back.
Not only that, but she looks so much more grown up now.

Well, hope you had a better Monday than I did!
Looks like we'll be shopping for tiny hair clips tomorrow....