Friday, June 25, 2010

My scrapping buddy returns!

My nieces are back for another summer visit!  Over the past few years, they have come for at least a week or two.  Sometimes together and other times separately. 

Last year we had a glorious 6 weeks together.  Allie and Sidney (also called the Nines) were completely inseparable--dressing alike, chattering together, sharing adventures.  Zack's partner for the summer was Lauren, but I stole her.  They still were partners for chores and when we were out--Lauren at 12 could help 6yo Zack.  But for fun?  She was all mine. 

Lauren is artistic.  She loved scrapping and creating.  We had the bestest time playing.  We even gave the scrappy room a makeover so it was better suited for the 2 of us.

This summer we have Mom, Lauren, and Sidney!  Woohooo!  Allie and Sid are already dressed in matching outfits being happily ten together.  Zack is happy to be Grammy's partner.  She loves watching him play video games and he really appreciates the audience.  They have such interesting conversations about them.

Which means I get full custody of Lauren.  Well, when she is not texting, of course.  She is 13, after all.  We decided to jump in with a card challenge to warm up the mojo.  We found a darling sketch at Papertake Weekly.  It looks like this:


Lauren decided to use it with a darling digital stamp and make a card for Grammy's birthday.  She went with Love You instead of  a traditional happy birthday.  Cute, right?


Love U by Lauren Astl.  Supplies- Paper: Fancy Pants Designs, Stamp: Meljen's Designs, Markers: Copic, Alphabet: American Craft, Chipboard: Maya Road, Other: Glitter.

I wanted to play with this utterly adorable stamp for a thank you card.  I wanted dimension so I colored it twice and popped out the swim gear and boat.  So in love!


Thanks For The Fun by Dora Phillips.  Supplies- Paper: Crate Paper, Stamp: Phindy's Place, Markers: Copics, Rub-On: Fancy Pants Design, Alphabet: American Craft, Font: Bold Buddy.

Our thanks to the fabulous gals at Papertake Weekly for the inspiration to start our summer!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Favorite Things

I fell in love with a new blog this month.  Stacey featured These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things challenge blog this month in the Blog Bay column.  Love them!  Yall know I am trying to do more layouts of me and my world after years of only scrapping the kids.  These talented ladies create challenges about favorite things in our lives.  Sure I can do them about the kids, but I am challenging myself to do more about me.

The challenge featured in the mag was Favorite Shoes.  I just did a layout for All About Me's blog on my summer shoes, but I jumped in to do one about my faves.  I did not finish in time for prizes, but that is not really the essence of a challenge.  It is all about the inspiration--and I was inspired.  Here are my super hot shoes!


Supplies:  Paper: Crate Paper, Cardstock: Coredinations, Journal Spot: Jillibean Soup, Butterfly: Jenni Bowlen Studio, Alphabet: BasicGrey, Punch: Fiskars, Bling: Heidi Swapp, Other: tape, stitching.

Journaling: These are my absolute favorite shoes.  My mood picks up the moment I slide them on and I feel that I can tackle anything.  The black and white plaid with a bit of red are me--classic with a pop of color.  They elevate jeans and a white blouse to an outfit.  With a black skirt, the 4 inch heels give me miles of leg.  Every single time I wear them, I receive compliments. I cannot lie and claim they are comfortable, but I am willing to sacrifice for beauty.  Who wouldn't?

The current challenge is Favorite Toys.  I admit that I was tempted to do one of Zack's, Allie's, or even Wolfie's favorite toys, but I resisted and scrapped my fave--TIVO!  What did I do before Tivo?  I am so in love with this little toy that I ordered the new whole house Tivo service from Directv which will be installed right after the 4th of July.  Can't wait!


Supplies:  Paper: Crate Paper, Cardstock: Couture Cardstock, Tape: Prima Marketing, Ribbon, Flowers: Jillibean Soup, Alphabet: American Crafts, Sticker, Metal: Heidi Swapp, Font: Momlove, Other: pin.

Jounraling: What did I do before my best friend Tivo entered my life?  Children always seem to need to ask a question right at the best moment in a show.  No worries.  Tivo will rewind and pause while I go be Mommy. I can Tivo 2 shows while I watch a 3rd without worrying about VCR tapes running out or being taped over before I see them.  I count that as saving me time.  If that was not enough, my Tivo suggests shows he thinks I might like.  Often, he is right.  What a considerate friend!

I cannot wait to see what they come up with next!

Friday, June 18, 2010

water wolfie

Wolfie loves water.  To drink it.  To play in it.  To shake it on me.  I was out rinsing some bins and she came racing over.  So I gave her one to play in.  Moments later she was trying to see how to fit herself in for a swim.


After drinking her full and splashing around, she decided to share. Wolfie raced over to gather up some of her favorite lovies and let them in for a drink.  She was not happy about the floating and kept trying to push them under to swim. 


Unfortunately, every time she pushed one down, it would pop up.  She kept on trying though.  Over and over and over.


I cannot wait to scrapbook these!

Friday, June 4, 2010

fresh kids rooms

We had a busy week in the kids' rooms.  Zack decided to update his room accessories from orange to lime green.  He has the rest of the room done in black, white, and grey so changing the accent color is easy.  He painted the picture frames himself while I zipped up some new fabric on his old pillows and changed out the band on his baskets.  We redid his name with some fun BasicGrey with green colors.  Finally, he selected just the right stuffed animal to put on his shelf.

Here is his book corner:


And his bed:


For Allie's room, we had bigger changes in mind.  Now that she is going to jr. high she wanted a more mature room.  And a desk.  Those were her two big requests.  She still loved her paris theme, but wanted to get rid of the hot pink walls with black dots.  She let Zack  pick a delicate yellow for the walls.  Fabulous!  It is so bright and sunny now.

She decided to learn to sew so she could make all her own pillows.  A few pieces of remnant fabric and some straight stitching and she had a lovely collection:


Her window seat had seen better years, so we decided to recycle the wood from it into a simple desk.  We dismantled it, donated a ton of stuffed animals to goodwill, and then reassembled a two tier desk.  We took down her vanity--which was too low for her now--and decided to let the desk do double duty.  A trip to Ikea for an accordian mirror will let her do both makeup and homework in one space.  We also picked up a cool office chair while there for a great price.  Love Ikea! 


She did such a great job paring down her shelves that she has room for a few new goodies to make their way home.  She will keep a close eye on garage sales for just the right items.  Allie did most of the work in the room herself and I could not be more proud of her.

Gee, what should we do next week?

Thursday, June 3, 2010

so many pretties

in this month's ScrapStreet.com Magazine!  Have you peeked yet?


I cannot even pick a favorite article this month.  Our new staff started writing with this one and they each have such unique voices.  And, of course, our fixture gals each brought some stupendous new pretties.  This may just be my favorite issue yet!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

feeling soupie today

Jillibean Soupy that is.  I have loved Jillibean Soup since the first moment I saw their sneeks before their first CHA.  They combine my favorite bold colors with lots of yummy kraft and they always have something that is out of the typical scrapbooking box.  Definitely one of my favorite companies.

I popped by their blog today to find Janis is their guest designer this month.  How fabulous is that?  She definitely works their goodies in a totally different way than I ever could.  Hmm. Two Janis posts in a row--am I starting to sound stalkerish?


Two. Supplies: Paper, Ribbon, Alphabet, Flower, Journal Spots: Jillibean Soup, Button: BasicGrey, Font: Tweed, Other: stitching.

Journaling: The two of you may live across the country from each other, but you are very much the same and every summer you get to prove it.  July 2009

My style could not be more different than Janis' but still she inspires me.  I adore how complex her layouts are even as I embrace my own simple style.  I cannot wait to see what she does with her guest month!  Congrats, Janis.
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