A "Ruff" Day

It was a "ruff" day for me today. Do you ever have one of those days when nothing really goes right, and everything you say is the wrong thing and you feel like your kids are never satisfied with anything? That was my day.

The kids wore me completely out today. I can't tell you how many fights I refereed, how many times Anna went to time out, or how I had to count to 3 for Elan to do anything. Everything was a struggle, a battle, a slow moving process.

I made it better by hiding in my scrap room at 3:00 to devour my hidden dark chocolate truffles all by myself. My friend Sharon brought them to me from Dundee Candy Shop and they were delicious. I ate so many that the roof of my mouth became numb.

Then, at 9:00 Anna came down from bed to have another "bed stalling moment" so, at 9:30, I had my second bowl of Black Raspberry Chocolate Chunk ice cream.

Wrigley, however was a good boy today. He never talked back, barked during nap, ran off to the neighbors, or jumped in my car. He got to lick the ice cream bowl... good dog.

And for tomorrow... and cute layout or two, and some new embellishments to share!

Busy, Busy Bee!

Ok, I know I haven't been here in several days, but I have been busier than a one armed paper hanger! I finally finished painting the family room and it looks great! So glad that is behind me. Now that it's all fresh and new, it prompted me to change around a few things and get my powder room decorated properly. I found the perfect items to put in there at Dee's, our local craft/home decor store. I am pumped about how good everything looks! Woo-hoo!

The Etsy store seems to be taking off, I got a few more orders today. Here's one getting ready to ship!

Just when I think Paper Doll Stationery is going to be slow for a while, it picks up. I'm not complaining, people, I am thrilled! Here is a cute order I finished up this afternoon:

Family folded note cards with matching circle address labels

Anna is going to a princess birthday party and here is a cute note pad I made for her friend:

And her cute birthday sticker labels:

The kids and I are really enjoying the summer. Fun days spent at the pool with a picnic lunch and easy evening dinners with Popsicles. We try to enjoy nature with walks or bike riding in the morning before it gets too hot. Today, Anna found a huge ant and of course, picked it up. After crawling on her for a minute, the little booger bit her! The boys were all upset that she had gotten bit and they were all crying. Elan hugged her and said, "It's ok, sweetie, it's ok..." I about died because it was so cute. They really do take care of each other and care about each other... that warms my heart!

It's hot, hot, hot out there!

Whew! The heat... it is hot out there! The humidity is awful and I don't think we can go a day without a summer shower. I believe summer has come and is going to stay for a while. I am going to spread some hot summer lovin'...

I chose JMW as the winning recipient of some monogrammed stationery in the new "margarita" stripe. I asked, "What does summer mean to you?" and here is what JMW had to say:

To me, summer means hot, lazy days by the pool, crickets singing in the nighttime air, tall glasses of lemonade, linen and cotton clothes, running barefoot in the grass and fireworks on the 4th of July.


I LOVED that answer! I couldn't define summer any better myself! Congrats, JMW! Email me at profumo@bellsouth.net to claim your prize!

Now, I'm off to paint my family room... stay cool...

Happy Father's Day, Dads!

When I was a little girl, I loved my Daddy. I remember sitting on his lap watching cartoons and getting in bed with him in the mornings. I remember "Dagwood" sandwiches for lunch and his awful attempts at cooking dinner when mom was away. Dad could always make a boo-boo better and he was the "man" to get out a bee sting or splinter, calling it "surgery."

Then, I became a bratty teenager. I was cruel to my Dad and I am ashamed of some of the things I said and did to him. I was a teenager and I thought I knew it all and everything he did was wrong or embarrassing to me. Those years weren't very good. We really didn't have a good relationship, actually we didn't have a relationship at all.

Once I grew up, Dad and I became closer and we developed a good, strong relationship all over again. Then, I got married and had a family of my own and realized how important and special my Dad is in my life. My children have formed a wonderful bond with my Dad and I love that. I love spending time with him, our annual Christmas shopping date, and all of our lunch outings.

I am so thankful and blessed to have you, Dad. Thanks for not giving up on me. I love you, Happy Father's Day!

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And to my husband...

You are a wonderful Daddy! I am so thankful that our children have a big, fun playmate! You are an unbelievable provider and an excellent example for them to follow. They love you so much and so do I. Happy Father's Day!

SHA, school of my heart...

It's my high school reunion weekend. Alot has changed to good old SHA in 15 years! The school looks fantastic! For those of you who don't know, Sacred Heart Academy is an all girl school in Louisville, KY. The four years I was there, fun antics, memories and best friends were made! I also got a great education...

I am still super close to the girls I went to high school with and I am so proud of that! Here we are in 1993 going to junior/senior prom:

And here we are again at Father Daughter Dance in 1991:

We sure had some snazzy, hip dresses! And our hair, wow. Those were the days. the days of bad dressing! We look so much better now!

I'll be spending another fun night out tonight with these girls I call lifelong friends.

Open for Business!

Greetings! I have opened my Etsy shop! Woo-hoo! I am still adding a few items, but it's open for business and I'm excited! Here you will find felties and journaling spots to add to your scrapbooks, card making, and other crafty avenues you may take! Have a look see:

http://www.craftypapergirl.etsy.com/

Other happenings today:

We had a wicked thunderstorm. Anna and Elan were scared and Anna was crying for her Daddy.

Elan got a train attachment stuck between his bottom teeth. That's right, stuck between his teeth. He was screaming and drooling all over the place. I had to get out my jewelry snips the cut the attachment and he was set free. Once Elan came to his senses, he was made at me because I broke his train.

And lastly, tonight is girls night for a friends birthday celebration. I will indulge...

What "Summer" Means

When I think of summer, I think of sundresses, flip flops, a tan, and margaritas. When Anna thinks of summer, she thinks of bugs, the swimming pool, ice cream cones, and bugs.

Last summer, we had a little experiment. The kids and I went on a walk and on our walk, we found some pretty caterpillars. Anna and Mac wanted to bring them home and put them in our bug catcher, and I agreed. We made them a nice little home of sticks, leaves and milkweed. The next day, 2 of the 3 had made a cocoon for themselves, and the day after, the 3rd had done the same. We watched and waited patiently for the butterflies to emerge. About 10 days later, the butterflies came out of their cocoons and we gently lifted them out of the bug catcher to fly away. One of the butterflies decided to stick around, and it loved Anna! She let it crawl all over her and she was so gently not to hurt it's delicate wings. Once the butterfly made its way up her arm to her face, she giggled and it flew off... and I got it all on film.

This layout was done using the new Making Memories "Giggle Kids" paper collection at Archivers. I used white paint around the edges of the photos because I was painting my ceiling at the same time I was working on this page. I killed 2 birds with 1 stone!

What does summer mean to you? Leave a thought or comment and there might be something in it for you! Have a good one!

Eye Candy

Finally, after 7 loads of laundry, cleaning the house, changing beds, grocery shopping, and catching up on some rest, I had some time to myself last night before turning in. I made this layout for my nephew, Daniel. Daniel is so sweet, and I don't mind saying, he loves his Aunt Lou Lou! The quote I used on this page seemed perfect for him... he is so kind.

Journaling reads: "Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."

I subscribe to Studio Calico's Kit of the Month and I received my first kit while in Hilton Head. So, last night I got to really look at it and drool... this kit is like no other that I have ever seen. It was so easy to work with. Usually, when I get new stuff, I have a hard time cutting the paper or using the embellishments right away. I like to look at them and "save them", but this kit was screaming, "USE ME"!! So, I did and I'm thrilled with the outcome above! Here are some items the kit came with:

More felties... these were so easy to work on in the car on the ride down. I got a lot of them made! The birds and flowers will be up for sale on my website: http://www.paperdollstationery.com/ by this weekend.

More to share tomorrow, but for now, I'm headed off to bed!

I'm Ba-a-a-ack!

Hilton Head was a total blast. The weather was perfect, the kids were awesome and all the time spent with family was so much fun. Bike riding, crab catching, shopping, wave riding, swimming, eating, drinking, and playing was a ball. The only battle of the whole trip was between me and the bike rack on my car. The bike rack won and I'm left with a bump on the head, a scratch on the face and a black eye.

I have an absolute ton of pictures from the trip, but I will only post a few of my faves here:

Mac loved riding the waves on his boogie board!

If Anna wasn't swimming in the ocean, she was searching for shells and sea creatures. She found a ton of sand dollars, 3 conch shells, a hermit crab and a starfish. Go Girl!Elan didn't like the ocean until the last day, naturally. He did love the sand though, and everyday he was an absolute mess of it!Our trip to Harbour Town. So much fun...In Harbour Town, Greg Russell was there singing. During the show, my niece, Lucy, had hearts in her eyes for Mac. She loves him so much!A morning bike ride to the Coligny Bakery for doughnuts, muffins, scones and really good, strong coffee.My entire family was down there with us, so we had our portraits done on the beach. This is my favorite one of the bunch that I took. This is my mom and all of my nieces: Kendall, Keeley, Anna and Lucy. Mom made all of their white eyelet dresses. They were precious!As you can see, we made lots of memories for another week of summer spent on Hilton Head Island, S.C. I have a lot of scrapping to do! Fist, I have to tackle my family room and get it painted, then... CRAFT time! Enjoy...

Beach Bound!

Woo-hoo! We are leaving for the beach in 8 hours! I will be basking in the sun, sea and surf all the while drinking an icy margarita or mango vodka! It will be a much needed break from the daily grind. The kids are just as excited as I am about the trip to Hilton Head this year... now for the hard part: 11 hours in the car with 3 little ones! We can do it!

I hope you all have a nice start to the summer and I will be back in blog land June 15th!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The $10 gift certificate goes to... (drum roll, please...) Mac choose comment #5 and that is...

Mindy! Woot! Congrats! Please email me at profumo@bellsouth.net to claim your prize. And for those of you who didn't win, there will be another chance, but until then check out http://www.paperdollstationery.com/ for some cute stationery for yourself!

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I hate rain when all 3 kids are home. It's a recipe for disaster: fights, tormenting, T.V. on, constant pestering, and pure boredom. Yuck. Today was torture. I did manage to get laundry done and I made my first batch of strawberry jam from those luscious berries we picked. Looks good and tastes good too!

I'm hoping to do some scrapping tonight, so I'll post those pics tomorrow. Have a good one!

Georgeous Floors!

Today, I had a dermatologist appointment and my sister-in-law, Lara, came over to stay with the kids. She brought her little ones, Kendall & Daniel to play too. I left, was gone for an hour and a half and she had fed all 5 kids lunch, cleaned up, and sniff... sniff... what smells good? That girl had polished my hardwood floors to a sparkling shine. I couldn't believe it. Seriously, my floors looked like they had been refinished! She swears by Orange-Glo and has been dying for me to try it. I'll be going to Wal-Mart to purchase some tonight. Lara, are you a secret rep. for this company?
Luna, you 'da bomb.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. She's the b-o-m-b. Mom can do anything and everything and always look cute doing it! We went strawberry picking today at Huber's and it was hot, somehow I don't think mom broke a sweat. Me on the other hand, had a nasty, sweaty shirt on with my hair sticking to my face. The kids were covered in strawberry juice- they had a blast! Every berry Elan picked went directly into his mouth.

We rode a tractor out to the berry patch, here we go...

Anna got a 'grandaddy' strawberry
Mac was a good picker!
Elan was a good eater!

A bumper crop of beauties!

We picked almost 18 pounds of strawberries, so we'll be eating them for a while! Tonight, strawberry shortcake, tomorrow, yogurt + strawberries + granola for breakfast, tomorrow nights dessert, vanilla ice cream with strawberries on top... this is what summer is all about!

And for tonight... celebrating mom's birthday here with a Southwest chicken salad and margaritas! Cheers! Mom, I hope you have a great birthday and all your birthday wishes come true! Love you so much!

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Lastly, to celebrate mom's birthday and summer.... A GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment to this post and you will be put into a drawing for a $10 Gift Certificate to Paper Doll Stationery. Wow-wee! Check it out here:

www.PaperDollStationery.com

Winner will be drawn on Thursday.

New Toy

I got a new toy. I did it and Stephen didn't even get mad. I bought the Cannon Digital EOS Rebel and I love it. I mean, I really love it, it's wicked cool! I had buyers remorse over a $40 Oaks hat, but not this baby. I have only been using it for a few days, but check out these beautiful, clear photos:

Mac's last soccer game yesterday:

Anna playing in the back yard:

Elan climbing a tree to catch a few ants:

I am really excited to learn a few new things in the world of photography. Taking pictures has always been one of my favorite things to do, I truly consider it one of my "crafts." So, to think of my scrapbook pages with gorgeous, crystal clear photos makes me giddy... I took photography in high school and college, so hopefully I will remember something from back in the day! I'll be taking a free 2 hour class at Murphy's soon.

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Stephen is home from his fishing trip and he had a wonderful time. Lots of stories, but no prize money... maybe next time! The kids and I missed him so much. When he walked in the door yesterday we were all fighting for hugs, kisses, show and tell time, and just outdoing ourselves for his attention! He always says the kids grow a foot every time he's gone (especially Elan!) and he's always ready to be back home. Love you, dear.

More exciting stuff tomorrow, so stay tuned!