Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Fabulous Fall!

I live in "The Arboretum Village" according to all of the publicity put together by the town and yet I had never been to visit The Morton Arboretum.  No, I do not have a good excuse.  I live moments from it.  I drive by it constantly.  I receive info about events by mail.  The kids enjoy each field trip to the arboretum at school.

This fall when the event flyer came, I put it on the calendar instead of tossing it in the recycle bin.  We are enjoying such beautiful fall weather that I wanted to enjoy a Saturday wandering through the woods.  I am soooo glad that we went!

The scheduled Saturday events included a taffy apple bar and a scarecrow walk.  Sounded great.  There are miles and miles of trails to walk, bike, or drive.  Different themes for each hike with different trees.  Zack loved China--seeing the trees that grow native to that country just tickled him.  Allie loved the Great Plains finding miles of golden wheat to be stunning.  Both enjoyed playing a bit in the kids area.  Here is Allie climbing a bit:


All along a lake stood scarecrows created by different scout troops.  Zack fell in love with a frog:


And Allie with a hippy gal (of course):


I have a ton of fabulous shots to play with over the next few scrappy days.  Tons of textures for my digi creating.  Some items to extract.  And lots of pictures to print and enjoy.  I loved it so much that I upgraded our day pass for an annual one.  My poor kids are going to spend lots of time doing photo shoots in the arboretum!

Here is one of my favorites from the day:

Monday, October 18, 2010

Happy Fall

Just a quickie card today!  I soooo adore Bella BLVD for card making.  I can look at their sticker sheet and just see a card pop out at me.  Add a little stitching and a bit of bling and I have a card that is exactly perfect to send out. 


Love Grows Happiness.  Supplies:  Papers, Stickers: Bella BLVD, Bling: Kaisercraft, Other: stitching.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sparkle!

I am back from Palm Springs--did you miss me?  Ok, so no one knew I was gone.  Every once in a while, I see something about safety and the internet that freaks me out with insistence that we should not be so visible.  Recommendations that we never show pictures of our kids online just do not work for me.  After all, I run an online scrapbooking website.  How would that work?

But I did decide that it is not a great idea to announce that I am leaving the kids home with Grandma while I travel away for a few days, so I kept it on the down low.  The kids had an absolutely fabulous time with a mix of Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents.  They made it to Great America and the Field Museum over the long weekend.  I am grateful to have inlaws that love spending time with my kids.

I had a relaxing time enjoying sunshine and warmth.  I spent some time reading at the pool.  Had a massage.  Danced for hours with good friends.  And the highlight was falling madly in love with my friend Michelle's darling 4yo son Corey.  We met for some Starbucks (naturally) and had a couple of hours to chat.  Corey taught me to use his personal laptop, drew pictures of me, and showered me with flowers.  What a charmer!

It is always nice to be in the company of other women.  I honestly believe we NEED that.  After all, who else would notice that I changed my hair color, dropped 8 pounds, and worked out harder after that magical 40th birthday so that I look "great for this age"?  And who else could understand that I feel completely differently at 40 than I did at 39?  It actually made sense to them that at 35 I felt I was too old for sequins, but today I feel fabulous wearing it?  Don't overthink it--just accept it and see me when you are 40.

Here I am wearing sequins--feeling 40 and fabulous.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

New Collab coming!

I have had the pleasure of designing with two of my fave gals Chelsea of Caged Bird Designs and Aimee of Girlboheme Studios.


It is a warm and happy celebration of fall with plenty of yummies for all of your fabulous fall pictures.  I will be back with a full preview when it goes live.  Have a happy Sat night!

Friday, October 1, 2010

First of the month!

Woohoo!  The new issue of ScrapStreet.com Mag is out!  I absolutely love this issue.  Thank you to so many fabulous designers for sharing your art with us!


Run and download the free kit--a totally fun collab just right for your fall and Halloween pics.  While you are in there, check out all of the articles from our crazy talented staff.  I adore these gals and feel so lucky to be inspired by them every month.  Happy October!
designed with love by beautiful dawn designs