Rain, rain, go away...

It has been rainy all day. A nice day to get some work done, which has actually been piling up. So, today I spent the whole day working in my craft room on orders and projects while Elan played with his cars and trucks. It was nice, actually. Now if we could just order some nice weather for Oaks and Derby...

Here's a little peek inside my craft room. My mom made the window treatments and the skirt around my extra large desk my dad built. I come from a crafty family! ;) This is my favorite room in the whole house...

Hello Monday!

Mondays are typically lazy and not much goes on. This is a day when the kids and I kind of take a break from a busy weekend. Well, today I was full of energy! I did laundry, changed sheets, cleaned the house, mopped the floors, played with the kids, went for a bike ride, and got a LO done for a challenge. Whew! I might crash at 8:00, but hey, it was worth it!

If you are a scrapper and you haven't been over to The Scrap Review, check it out! Just click on the blinkie at the right, outside of this post. They had a challenge posted last week to make a LO using junk mail. No patterned paper, but solids, stickers and embellishments were ok to use. They are giving away a couple of cute green/recycled patterned paper packs to the winner. Here's hoping... (I love prizes!)

This is the LO I submitted to The Scrap Review challenge. All the materials (except the title letters, red rick rack and blue cardstock background) are from an allergy ad/brochure I got in the mail. It turned out kinda cute! (For a junk mail submission!)

One last thing... yesterday morning I was outside looking at my plants (that desperately need water) and I heard the sound of hot air balloons. I looked up, and low and behold the great Balloon Race was right over my head! (The race had been postponed from Saturday due to wind) I hurried the kids out to the driveway and we saw a dozen vividly colored balloons go across. It was so awesome!

This picture stinks, but you get the idea!

Derby Week Starts!

Today is the start of Derby week! This morning, the Balloon Race (delayed due to wind) and the Mini Marathon kicks off a week of fun activities. I have always loved Derby week. The city is full of energy this week! Everyone manicures their yard and plants their flowers, decorating with Derby wreaths, flags and such. A few years ago, I made this yard stake of a jockey silk. Stephen cut a piece of wood (in the silk shape) with an electric saw and I painted it. It was an easy afternoon project. Enjoy the week of festivities!

"Recycled" Page

Hello Friday! In honor of Earth Day, I made a LO using several recycled items...

I used crumpled pink tissue that I glued on to a plain piece of white, the green fabric is a leftover scrap from a quilt that I got from my mom's stash, and the fabric flowers are cut out from one of Anna's old t-shirts. The butterflies are punched from scrap paper as well. I think this turned out so cute and Anna loves it!

Have a great weekend, I hope you get some crafting in! I know I will... my fisherman is back!

Happy Earth Day!

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle! Happy Earth Day! I have been doing my part on "going green" by using my own bags, recycling, using hand-me-downs for the kids, etc. Besides all that, I LOVE the color GREEN! It's one of my favorites. This is a cluster of some of my great green items I had laying around. So fresh!

Here is a picture of Wrigley "recycling". He grabs wood off the log rack and uses it as rawhide. He looks so happy!

Here is a cool recycling tip for scrapbooking:

I reused a piece of pink tissue paper and covered this mini album in it with a glue stick. The embellishment is a felt flower from a shirt of Anna's that got too small. I just trimmed around the edges and glued it on. Lots of Anna's clothes have really cute embellishments on them and when she outgrows them, I cut them apart and reuse on her scrapbook pages. Woot!

What can you recycle and use in your albums, home decor, card making, etc.?

Fishing Widow...

That's what me and my 2 sister-in-laws are this time of year. Our husbands go on fishing trips for several days. Sometimes we get lucky and they are only gone for an entire day, leaving before the sun comes up and returning at dinner time. They fish in tournaments every Tuesday. They are die hard anglers.

This trip they left on today will last through Friday. They will be trying to catch some serious crappie fish. While they are not fishing, they will be eating like kings, drinking like frat boys, and making disgusting noises from all parts of their body. I'm sure there is nothing like an all guys fishing trip.

The Oaks Day dress has changed. When I got to JoAnn today, I couldn't find a good fabric/pattern for that long dress. So, I found fabric that I loved first, then looked for a different pattern all together. Here is the new dress:

I chose a vintage flower print for the dress and plain chocolate brown for the yolk. A pink hat a chunky jewelry will be fab with this dress! I'll post the fabric/finished dress asap!

Speaking of JoAnn, all you crafty people run over there! Don't walk, RUN! Everything in there is on sale. Fabric, home decor, and all their craft and scrapbook departments are on sale. I didn't see much that didn't have a 40% off tag on it. Their 12x12 paper is 6 for $0.96!!! That is super cheap! My dress pattern and fabric was only $12 all together! I call that being crafty with money! Now, scoot and get yourself some paper or fabric at JoAnn...

Derby week is coming!

Derby is on it's way! A fun filled week in Louisville, KY of events all week long leading up to the Derby at the famous Churchill Downs! The kids and I will be going to the Boat Race (Wed.) and the Pegasus Parade (Thurs.). Then, the track for Oaks Day on Friday with Stephen.

Oak Day is a fun filled day of mostly drinking and people watching. I just started looking online tonight for that perfect dress. After the 9th try, I gave up. The perfect dress doesn't exist for under $100. I am cheap. I am practical. I can't spend more than $100 on a dress. So... lucky for me, my mom sews. She is AWESOME! Truly she can make anything, but in hopes that she will say "yes" to my request, I searched for an easy pattern. I'm thinking this could be pretty darn cute with the right fabric. And downright comfy to boot! Here it is... (the long version without sleeves)

What do you think?

Finished Layout's

Craft night with the girls on Friday was super fun! We had so much fun chatting, scrapping and eating. Seriously, there is nothing better than Wick's pizza. It's the BEST in Louisville! I didn't post anything yesterday because it was a gorgeous day... sunny and 75 degrees. The perfect day, except Anna had to go to the doctor and she has strep throat. She is the best little sick patient ever! She is so much better today. As promised, here are the LO's I finished at craft night:

If you are looking at the dates of these photos, you can laugh... one is a picture from Easter in 2007 and one is Anna's 18 month picture in 2005. Obviously, I do not scrap in chronological order. What fun would that be?! I like to reminisce!

Birthday Crafts

Greetings! It's a beautiful day today, wonderful weather to play outside or plant some flowers, but... 2 of my 3 kids are super cranky. Elan is teething and Anna is suffering from the green pollen snots (allergies). Ugh... their moods can turn a sunny day grey in no time flat.

On a brighter note, tonight I'll be hosting Crafty Girls night out. We will eat pizza, indulge in adult bevs and get chubby on brownies, and in between bites, we will be scrapping! I hope to get a few LO's done and if I do, I'll post them here tomorrow.

My wonderful mother-in-law, Catherine, her birthday is today. She works, cares and gives too much and eats, sleeps, and takes too little. We hope to treat her to lunch tomorrow since she had to work on her birthday... Boo!!! I made her this card that I think she will love!

These flip flop note cards are for my sister-in-law, Erin for her birthday. She is a flip flop girl, so I made her these notes to accompany some cute flips to actually wear! I used Stickles glitter in cotton candy on the strap and center of the flower. The flower is a punch and the flip is a stamp. I personalized them on my PC.

Organizing leads to creating...

Today, I have had to put a halt on the crafting. My desk is in utter disarray and complete chaos! There are photos, paper, ribbons and embellishments in every corner. I tend to collect these items and just sit them on my desk because I like to look at them, but this is crazy... now I need to put them away so I can actually work on something. I am making progress... as a reward for my organizational efforts, I will scrap tonight or at least get some pages together to scrap.
Next in line for cleaning and organizing: the kids closets. [barf].

Making A Bad Day Good

My little buddy, Mac had a bad day today at school. I picked him up and he was sulking. When I asked him what happened, he said that two kids spit on him at lunch. (Now, before you gasp, I have already emailed the teacher and the "spit" could quite possibly be from talking to fast, etc.) Nonetheless, the little guys feelings were hurt and his spirit was crushed. So, Supermom stepped in and we all went to Starbucks after school and got hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.

While sitting in Starbucks, I found these cute cards pictured at the left. It was meant to be for me to see them today. It is a set of 30 cards that are 2.5" square and have a little flap on the picture. When you lift the flap, it has a simple encouragement on the inside. Easy enough for Mac, who is in Kindergarten, to read himself. The whole super cute box of 30 cards was $3.95. He will get one on his place mat at dinner tonight in hope for a better day tomorrow.

After Easter Greetings

Easter was a basket full of fun... tons of treats, eats, family, and a super great egg hunt! Mom made the kids outfits, which were precious! They looked so cute in their Easter finest until about 12:30 when they had a combination of dirt, chocolate and lunch all over them!

The Easter bunny was really good to them, bringing them chocolate bunnies, toys and these rad bunny sunglasses. Their baskets were hidden in the morning, and Anna found hers in the "fridgerlater". She thought that was so funny!

Our annual egg hunt at Uncle Tim and Aunt Betty's was awesome! Each year, we have more eggs, more kids, more treats, more pictures taken, more fun! It just gets better and better. Here are a few pictures from the egg hunt... we have beautiful children in our family!

A Beautiful Day!

Wow! What a change in weather since Tuesday... it's sunny and 70! Anna and I planted flower seeds in peat pots in hopes to have a flower garden this year. Bunnies ate last years seedlings twice and then we gave up. So, this year we are starting early indoors and transplanting into a raised bed (that Stephen doesn't know he has to build yet) with chicken wire around the edges. That will hopefully keep the bunny family living under our deck out of our flowers and vegis! This time every year we have several baby bunnies hopping around our back yard. The kids get a thrill out of it, and they really are so cute!

Spring fever is back and the outdoor life is grand! I can't tell you how many "practice egg hunts" we've had. Elan will be a pro at finding eggs by Sunday.

I'm still making some spring things and all the pastel color paper is making me feel like I can create anything! I'm going to dinner tonight with the girls for my birthday and I'm bringing them each a little party favor of Easter treats (dark chocolate M&M's and Peanut M&M's mixed together). A simple item makes a big impact if it's packaged right! I like to use cellophane bags and pretty ribbon or raffia. A kind gesture and budget friendly!

Snow in April?

That's right, it snowed today. It's April and 39 degrees and snowing. Yuck. I'm so ready for spring...

Despite the snow flurries, I had a delightful day crafting with old friends (Janet and Elizabeth) and my mom. We had a yummy lunch, exchanged ideas and inspiration. I ended up making a few Easter cards out of an egg template and some scraps and got a couple layouts started.

I finally finished my "grand finally" entry for CK magazine. I'm only going to show you a peek of it! Hopefully it will get recognized and you can see all of it in the October issue! Woot!

The good weather is coming through tomorrow, so until then, happy crafting!

Happy Birthday to Me!

WISER... and maybe a smidge older...

That's what the darling card that my childhood friend, Megan sent to me said. And it's true!

It's my birthday today and I did exactly what I wanted: no laundry, no cooking, a short nap, a coffee break at Heine Bros., a few paper crafts, and a scrapbook layout started. I went to moms for an A+ dinner, plus I got some awesome gifts! A wicker basket for my old lady bike, a Vera wallet, a scrap GC, and a coffee GC! Really, does it get any better? To top it all off, my kids were good.

Welcome Spring!

I love spring... my birthday is in the spring, I got married in the spring, everything is fresh, new, and full of color. It's inspiring to see all the new buds and flowers popping up everywhere (no flowers in my yard, but you should see my mom's display of gorgeous tulips!) I do however have two flowering trees in my backyard that are stunning. This is my view out my kitchen and craft room; it's a Southern Magnolia (I think).

It's so pretty! We're supposed to get heavy rain tonight, so most of the big flowers will be gone by morning.
A craft for tomorrow...

Animal Lover

Since Spring Break is this week, we have been lounging in our P.J.'s in the morning . No rushing out the door, yelling at everyone to get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, eat breakfast... it's been a nice break to let the kids do their own thing in the morning.

Anna is my animal lover, she loves all animals big and small, stuffed or real. This is a picture of Anna and Wrigley this morning. Wrigley has his own blankie, but Anna always wants to make him more comfortable and loved by giving him her blankie and her favorite animals (Sparkles, the bunny and Love, the bear.) Then, she lays on him and watches her shows or drinks her milk. I think Wrigley loves it... he never tries to wriggle away! Wrigley is loving Spring Break too!