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!