Easter Photos

Easter was wet. We even had to have our Easter egg hunt inside. The rain broke for a few minutes, so I thought, "perfect time for a photo!" Unfortunately, no one was in the mood for a family pic- including me. I was gross from cooking in a hot kitchen, the kids were on a sugar meltdown and tired from getting up at 6 am to see what the bunny brought. Nonetheless, I gave it a shot.

Attempt #1. Elan refused to look at the camera even when Stephen was trying to convince him that Uncle Nate was making a hideous face.
Attempt #2: Resorting to the fact that Elan was not going to cooperate, I look a tad bewildered, but Anna makes the best of it and starts making goofy faces back. This family photo thing is not happening...
Attempt #3: Elan gets set free from the torture and Mac and Anna decide not to cooperate. At least it's a good one of Stephen and I!
Finally, I refuse to give up and pull out the big guns. "No Easter photo, No egg hunt. Your choice." Ha! It worked. Mama wins.
Because the weather was so awful, we couldn't play or eat outside. So, I had to set my tables inside. I pulled out my China, crystal, fancy flatware, and borrowed a beautiful linen tablecloth and napkins from mom.

Each spot had a treat. I used pink bags for the girls, and green for the boys. I used the darling tag from Free Pretty Things For You and tied them on with twine. The bags were filled with chocolate mints and Godiva truffles. They were a big hit!

So, I survived my first Easter hosting dinner and it was so much fun! Now, I just need to survive the big race tomorrow... Kentucky Derby mini/Marathon is in the morning. Kicking off Derby week with my running shoes on!

Jingle Belles are Recycling!

This week, those crafty Jingle Belles are "Reusing and Recycling!" I knew exactly what to use for this prompt... a chenille candy cane that I cut off a t-shirt that was too worn out to wear for another season. I paired it with some October Afternoon paper and stickers, added a button and twine and my recycled card was born!
Gotta bolt... dinner's a cookin'!

Go Away, Rain!

Enough with the rain already! Good grief... we have had epic rainfall and we are expecting buckets more between tonight and tomorrow. The depression almost settled in when I remembered I had this precious layout to share of Elan. I made it on my girls scrappin' trip:

A close up of the cute "puffy" by KI Memories and the beads I used to mimic raindrops.
Sorry for my blog absence... I hosted my first Easter and I was preparing food and cleaning house all last week. I took some fun photos that I hope to upload today and share a little later. Until then, enjoy this little cutie in all his rain gear glory!

A Boy Layout With *gulp* LACE!

Boy layouts are kind of hard when you have to "dress them up." For example: Mac's First Communion. I wanted it to be sweet, white, add some softness, maybe a flower... but for a boy, it's tough. So, I was glad to see the Etsy Inspired Challenge for the week. The Etsy shop is Creating Is Fun and there are lots of great, vintage looking things in the shop. These are the two things that inspired me:


And here is my layout: I am happy to say that it's still very much all boy, but has a flower, lace, a button, rhinestone and laser cut paper. It's sweet and peaceful- exactly what I was going for!
Thanks for the inspiration! ;)

Thanks, Teacher!

I love this Paper Smooches apple stamp! I have used it several times and have had fun paper piecing it with different patterns. This card came together nicely with all the fun, bright colors!

A close up of the card- the envelope has a little card in it that I stamped with a Hero Arts sentiment.

That's all for today... didn't get much sleep last night and the day was full. We have added a new member to the family... a guinea pig named Henry. More on that later. ;)

Rollin' with it!

Another school themed layout! I thought I would keep the ball rolling since I have done one of each child! Here is Mac on his first day of second grade: I really love how the colorful strips add just the right amount of "pop" to the layout. I thought the text style paper was perfect since he learned cursive this year! I used a sketch for this layout while I was on my scrappin' trip, but have no idea what the sketch was or where it came from! Anyway, enjoy! And, speaking of Mac, he lost his second tooth tonight at dinner. It all started with biting into a juicy piece of corn on the cob!

Using Your Scraps!

Do you have scraps? I have scraps, yes I do, I have scraps, how 'bout you? Okay, that was really cheesy, but it just flew out of my mouth like a peppy cheerleader. But seriously, do you save your scraps? If so, do you use them? I save 'em and I use them- a lot. I even have drawers that the scraps are in and organized by color. For example... If you make a layout like this: ...you are only using less than half of a 12x12 sheet of paper. Sometimes, I save to use on a layout for a different kid (heaven forbid that the same paper be on 2 different layouts in the same book!). When I don't want to do a layout, I make a card! This card, I used the orange polka dot paper and added some matching stripes to coordinate at the top. I had a bit of the stripes left, so I used it to make another card: The pleated paper is another scrap that my friend, Elizabeth had in her trash. This type of trash digging would be called "Ragpickin'" in my family. Waste not, want not, Mom always said! The flower is from a swap that Elizabeth had also discarded- well I sure am glad I saved it, because it looks pretty cute on this card! So, there you have it... a layout, and two cards made mostly of scraps and unwanted leftovers that I fostered into cuteness. Hope you find some use of your scraps and make them feel wanted and loved... that hideous paper is just begging for a makeover!

Adorable Easter Tag Freebie!

Are these not the cutest tags ever?! They are free on the Shabby Blog! Click here to download your *free* set of Easter tags! I plan to print mine, jazz them up a bit and use them for place settings at my Easter table- my first time ever hosting! I'm thinking of adding them to a small white bag with chocolate mints inside, and some fringed paper grass at the bottom... ooo... the wheels are turning! So, go download these cuties and enjoy! ;)

First Birthday Wishes

Today is my niece and God daughter, Claudia's first birthday. She is named after my grandfather (Claude) and her middle name, Scott, was chosen by her two older siblings, after the Louisville Zoo's baby elephant, "Scotty." So, needless to say, this elephant card was perfectly crafted just for her! And, I probably don't need to mention that she is a bit on the hefty side, but chubby babies are so precious! Here she is hamming with Uncle Stephen- hmmm... which is the bigger goof ball? One of the rare shots of Claudia without her finger in her mouth... Claudette and her mama, my SIL, Lara. Love this picture of them together...

Happy Birthday, sweetie! Your Aunt Lou Lou loves you very much!

Sketchy Layout

Here is my Sketchy Thursdays layout for the week! This is the sketch: I loved the sketch and instead of using 4 photos, I substituted some embellishments and a journaling card. :) Anna and Mac have changed so much since the first day of school! I love looking back at all these photos! Have a good day! It's beautiful here, so I'm off to run 5 or 6 miles!

Mmm...whaa!

Paper Smooches is on the hunt for their next Guest Designer! I thought I would submit a couple cards I made last week when my new stamp sets arrived! So, here is the first one: If you have ordered from PS before, you know that your new stamp set comes sweetly wrapped in glassine and tied with chocolate bakers twine. Since I am my mothers child, I tend to reuse or re purpose lots of items, and especially the cute ones! So, my card has a slip cover... It's like it's own little present! Open it to see the pretties... Here's a close up... A little vintage, mixed together with sweetness and surprise!

Happiness is...

...being married to a wonderful man that loves you for who you are and adores everything you do. Today marks the day that I have been married for 9 years. Happy Anniversary, darling. ;) This is the card I made for him: Next up, my Jingle Belles card for the week! This week, we needed to follow a recipe: white, a present, a bow or knot, and traditional Christmas colors. Here is my card: I know, there isn't a present. I forgot to add that. Pink isn't a traditional Christmas color? It is in my house- pink is a traditional color for every holiday. I added some white crochet lace trim and there is a bow tied around the jeweled branches. Some recipes aren't meant to be followed exactly how there are written. :) I thought I better share a layout today or you guys might think I'm a big tease. So, here's a simple one that I cranked out lickety split! It's not too hard to make a layout when you have adorable pictures to work with! This is Elan on his fourth birthday, this past February 2. Stay tuned... much more to share! I finally got all my projects and layouts photographed and uploaded today. Yay!

A Weeks Worth...

Lots of fun stuff to share today... a weeks worth of news and creations!

It's been a whole seven days since my last post, and I apologize for that! It was so busy with the kids on spring break and I had a three days girls weekend! So, let me start the roll of events that happened:

I got a few new stamp sets in the mail. One from Papertrey and a couple from Paper Smooches. I love this monster and cute sentiment that I used from 2 sets of Paper Smooches stamps:

I taught Anna how to use my SLR camera. Of course her favorite photo op was of me chopping onions:

*Note: for those of you who have sensitive eyes and cry buckets when you chop onions, put on a pair of goggles. I keep them in the kitchen drawer. ;)

We made a trip to the Zoo, spent a day hiking, the kids saw the new movie "Hop," went fishing a couple of times, and had a few play dates:

We celebrated my sister-in-law's, my niece and my birthday:

And Mac finally lost his first tooth:

I'm pretty sure he holds the record for loosing his first tooth at such a late age... he's 8!

And last but certainly not least... I got word Friday night I am being *PUBLISHED* for the very first time in CARDS September 2011 issue!!! I am so excited. Persistence finally pays off. :) Thanks to those of you who really believed in me. You know who you are and I love you for it!

I have a TON of layouts, cards and a mini album that I did on my 3 day scrappin' trip with the girls. I just got back yesterday evening, so I haven't had a chance to photograph any of my projects. I will post them asap!

A Quiet Place...

...that's exactly where I wish I was! It's the first day of Spring Break here, and the kids were occupied with a long play date. With seven kids, all under 8, it was busy, wild, and chaotic, but fun! We do have a busy week planned, so hopefully we will have some nice weather! Here is my most current layout: I love how it turned out! I finally decided to use the fabric tree from Trinkets,NH that I got on Etsy- it seemed perfect for this page! I also pryed that button I made out of my Kung-Fu grip and used it. The grass was made with green scrap paper and Martha Stewart fringe scissors- love them. Here's a close up: The background story to this layout is kinda funny... Elan was bugging the tar out of Mac, following him everywhere and talking his ear off. Finally, when Elan turned his back, Mac climbed the tree and finally had a quiet place to draw and write. It actually took Elan a while to find him! ;) *Challenge: Paper Issues: "Show Us Your Grass!"