{discovering} life

Another Hero Arts Layout

I have a layout up at Hero Arts today that I thought I'd share...you can see it here on the blog and if you want more detailed info, you can go here. I created this layout for my Dad. The photo is of him walking on the beach with my kids at Christmas in California. My Dad has done so much for my family and for my little kiddos - I feel like I can never say thank you enough. So, I thought I'd make him this project and say thank you for a bunch of little things...and all the big things that he does for us. I hope that he will like it when we give it to him.

Last night, I went shopping a bit (on my own - thanks honey - love it when I can get out without the kiddos) and was so inspired by so many different things! I got some really fun things for Amy and I to play with when she comes and visits - I'm counting down the days. I can't wait!

I thought I'd share a few more pictures from the weekend as well:

The light was coming in from the window and I just loved how it kinda washed out the photo a bit with that haze - my little guy is getting so big!

Happy 60th Birthday Grandma!! Ryan had this amazing cake made from this cool new place on Main Street - it was yummy! :)
And crazy Uncle Brent meeting Jaxon for the first time. It was great to have him and his fiance up from Cali for the weekend...it's been awhile since we've seen him and it was neat to have him seen Jaxon. It always amazes me how different Ryan and his brother are - it's just the two of them in the family and yet they have such a great relationship. I'm glad that they were able to spend time together golfing and hanging out.

I'm gonna go work on cleaning up my desk a bit so I can do some more fun things. I've been so happy lately creating stuff - I'm so thankful for this craft - so so fun! More to share tomorrow! :)

Photo Frames

This weekend, we celebrated my mother-in-laws 60th birthday. My hubby's brother and fiance came up from California and surprised her - we all had a great time! Sheri has been asking for some recent pictures of the kids, so I printed off these photos and gave them to her for her birthday. The photo of Madisyn and Hudson was taken at Father's Day at their home - I just love that photo of them together! And then the one of Jaxon I believe I've shared on here before. I am in love with these digital brushes of Ali's. I love the handwriting and I think I've bought most of them! :) I added them to the photos and some text...a simple little custom touch. She loved them!

I took a bunch of pictures on Saturday and that was fun! Got lots of good ones. I think going through the photos is so exciting - I love looking at the emotions, feelings and moments that get captured on film.

On another note, I loved seeing some more photos from CHA. There are some great ones here and here. I'm really excited about a lot of the new things coming out - loved the new Making Memories Paperie line, Autumn Leaves new stamps and Urban Junque line looks cool, and more! So fun to see everything coming out in the next few months.

I'm super excited...my good friend of 6 years is coming down in 2 weeks to hang out, scrap and play!! I can't wait! We are going to go and stay at my dad's place (THANK YOU DAD!!!) for the weekend and scrap, chat and eat!! :) :) We are both planning a project for us to do and I can't wait to see what she comes up with - I just love all that she does. She is a designer for Stampin' Up! and creates so many of those fabulous samples you see in the catalog (and the cover!). She's awesome! Can't wait to be with you Amy! It's been sooo long since we've hanged out! I'm planning some things to do tonight and can't wait to play for a whole weekend...without kids! :)

Thanks for your nice comments about the last post/layout/card! :) I always love to hear from you all!

Anyway - I've got a layout to share at  Hero Arts on Wednesday, a Scrapbooks, etc. layout to share and hopefully some fun photos (gotta get them edited and up here). Hope you have a good one! :)

New Hero Arts Project & CHA

Today, I have a new layout and card up at the Hero Arts blog...you can see it here if you wanna. I had fun playing with the transparency cards this week - love those things. On the layout, I stamped on a transparency card and embellished on top and under it - then added it to a chocolate notecard that opens up to reveal my journaling. I love Leslie's goodies on today's post too - so check it out! :) :)

CHA, Craft & Hobby Show, in Chicago starts today and I love this time of year! I LOVE the trade shows and seeing all the new product releases from all the fabulous companies out there! There is still a lot to be revealed but here are some things that I'm totally lovin' so far:

New Karen Russell Narratives Line: I always love what she creates - the problem - is that I hoard it like crazy. I need to use it!! LOL! Anyway - wonderful new release from her! Love it!

New Sassafrass Lass: Some of these papers and funky and fun and a bit out of my normal style - but the colors and patterns are amazing! I seriously am excited to create with this stuff! It is making me HAPPY!

New Collage Press: Huge fan! Check out their new Summer catalog - looks like lots more fun stuff. I love those ledger sheets and tags - my fav!!

New Jenni Bowlin: Love the new Victoria line, Crepe paper ribbon looks awesome, and the smaller bingo cards are awesome! Already have plans for those ones!

New Cricut/Provo Craft: Seriously, don't even know what to say! Material to cut & create your own stamps, to cut & create your own embossing folders, magnet sheets, stencil sheets...I'm in love! I'm all about my die-cutting right now and to have more possibilities makes me so so so very happy! LOVE IT!!! And I need it - like yesterday! :) :)

New Basic Grey: Really impressed with the new releases this show! Lots of patterns and colors that are way cool!!!

Anxious to see the new Autumn Leaves release this show, Making Memories (which is always fabulous and a huge favorite), KI Memories and more and more and more. Did I mention that I love this time of year? LOL!

I'll be back to share more as more is posted online. So fun!

Getting ready...

For another school year....I LOVE back-to-school time! I know it's still a bit early...but walking into Target and seeing all the school supplies up - makes me smile - BIG! I love being organized! I love calendars and list and notepads and paper...etc.

So, I thought I'd share this amazing planner! I don't know where I first heard or saw this planner...but I knew that I had to get one. It goes from August 2008 - December 2009 - perfect for the new school year approaching. It's called the 'MomAgenda' Planner and I love it! It has a week view on the open two-page spread, a schedule at the top, and then sections beneath for up to 4 kids schedules. Also - a dinner line. Awesome! I'm so excited to have things organized on the calendar - have everyone's schedules nicely together - it's going to work great!

This great site has free shipping for items over $40 so it's a great place to get it. As much as I wanted a fun color, I just got brown so that it could sit in my kitchen. I can't wait to start using it! :)

I also went and did a little shopping for 'back-to-school' with Madisyn yesterday. We got some cute clothes while we were at Target and at the Gymboree outlet. I also got her a backpack - but I'm not sure if it's my fav. How silly am I? LOL! I'll see if she finds something better - if not, we'll stick with it.

Speaking of planning...I've been thinking of getting Madisyn and Hudson both a Nintendo DS for Christmas. They both have Leapsters that they love - but Hudson's screen is starting to not work and he loves his friends DS. I thought it would be fun for them.

Any recommendations on games for them? I was thinking the Nintendogs Lab game - they both want a dog so bad and love PetPals on the Leapster. Cooking Mama? Princess? Any good games that would be good for their ages (4-7) - that your younger kids love? If you've got any advice, I'd love to hear!

Ok, random post! :) :) :)

I've been wanting to do a project for quite a few months now - been gathering thoughts and such for it to work. And last night, I dug into it...deep! I can't wait to share but it won't be for awhile yet. Gotta get busy first, but I'm really excited about it and I hope that you all will be too! Talk about vague - sorry! LOL! Just excited!

Ok, off to work in my room for a little bit more. I want to start a page tonight - the kids are at my sisters for a bit longer so gotta enjoy the time! :) Have a good one!

Chatterbox

Thanks for your comments about the button layout - it's an older one but it was so dang fun to play with all those buttons. They will always be a fav embellishment of mine!

I quickly wanted to drop in and share another layout with you...this one is on the Chatterbox blog. They have lots of great inspiration over there so check it out! Courtney was so sweet and asked me to create a layout with one of their awesome new lines - it's so great to see Chatterbox back up and running. Me and Courtney laughed that we'd always be 'Chatterbox girls' from back in the day when we were on the design team together. It's so great that they are coming back with a bang - truly a great company.

Anyway - I made a layout for them with their new products and had lots of fun. I think I re-did this layout like 5 times - it is what it is I guess! LOL!

I worked on a project for BHG this weekend and had so much fun with it! And, my desk is clean again! I am so proud of myself cleaning up before I started something else. I need to keep it clean!! I worked on organizing more today and it's looking better and better. I'm planning on sharing little snippets of it on here very soon.

Hope you all are having a great Monday! I'm gonna try to start another layout tonight! So in the mood to create! Love that feeling!

Buttons, buttons, everywhere!

 On the left side column, you may of noticed that I just added a bunch of photo albums with layouts and projects in them. There are a lot of layouts and things there that I've never posted before - so have fun checking them out. Some layouts go all the way back to 2005 so they aren't all 'new' - but still some favs of mine.

It was so fun going through all these layouts 'online' and adding them on here. It brought back so many memories!

I thought I'd share one that I did for Autumn Leaves using their buttons - one of my all-time favorite embellishments. I LOVE their buttons! I placed the buttons in rows and sewed them onto the page in all different angles and ways....just to add some variety to the stitching and some fun. I also love to stack buttons - I layered some on top of another for a fun twist too.

And guess what...my studio desk is CLEAN!! Happy happy day! I can't remember the last time it was truly clean!! Now though, I want to mess it all up cause I just got all the new Autumn Leaves lines (Cute World Boy & Girl, Manhattan line and the awesome Heather Bailey stuff) and all the new stamps (Wow - there are a lot and I love them) and the new ink pads (did you see that - ink pads! They rock!!). So---I've got to create something - and asap! I'll try to get something done this weekend and share!

Off to create! :) Have a good one!

GUESS WHAT: I just popped over to my dear friend, Jen McGuire's blog, and she posted a button layout too! We must of been thinking alike today! I've always loved that layout of her's!

Hello Hello!

Geez - I feel like it's been forever since I've been here! Last week, we went to Lake Powell with all my family. It's our annual trip and it was a bit crazy and super hot! We had 12 adults and 15 kids there - talk about nuts! LOL! But, the kids had the greatest time - playing with cousins from the moment they wake to the moment they go to sleep, to swimming (boy, those swim lessons for the past month sure paid off! they did so awesome - so proud of them! They both even went down the steep water-slide on the houseboat - which they didn't do again - but I was so proud!), eating and playing! It was a great trip!

My Mom, my dearest mother, is the most amazing person I know! Seriously!! For the past few years, we have had a theme at Lake Powell for the kids and to do fun things with. We've had Pirates and Cowboys and this year we did the Olympics - with them right around the corner. And geez, she went all out! I've gotta get my photos off my hubby's laptop and onto my computer and I'll share some fun ones from our trip. We had an opening ceremonies (torches, colored shirts for each family, etc.), we had competitions and obstacles, we had each kid color and create their own flag - so many fun things! It was amazing! I don't know where my Mom comes up with all these amazing ideas - but she just amazes me every time! Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful trip!!

So, we are back and trying to get back to normal! LOL! Laundry and cleaning - so much to do! Plus, I had a few quick assignments I had to get done right when I got home. My studio looks like a tornado hit - right when I felt like I was getting a handle on it - it's a complete wreck again. Arghhhh!!

Thanks for your comments about the layouts for the July KOTM. I had that set to post while we were gone and I'm glad that lots of you got the kit - there is a TON in there! If you still haven't gotten it - grab it! There are still some left here. (My layouts are cropped a little weird on the site, but they are going to try to fix it.)

I did want to share something super SUPER cool with all of you!

DECOR ELEMENTS BY STAMPIN' UP!

 
Stampin' Up! has released a new product line...vinyl lettering and designs for your walls, car, fridge, windows, frames...whatever you can think of! I LOVE IT!!! I've loved SU! designs for years and now I have them in my home on my walls! Love it! The prices are great and I love that they offer many of the designs in Chocolate brown - love that! (Please don't look at my mess! :)

I got the CREATE medium up on my wall before we left for vacation and I love how it looks! It's on the wall directly across from where I sit so I can see it - I was going to create something like this with my Cricut, but dang, this was so cute and perfect and cheap - I couldn't resist. And brown - so cute!

I also got the Manhattan flowers in Chocolate and Kraft - I am putting them around the windows and down by the large 'W' in our dining room. We just got our wood blinds installed yesterday in our dining room and bedroom (LOVE IT!!!!) and will get those flowers up and show you a picture. They are so gorgeous! I will get them up this week and share!

So, go to the link and click on the brochure on the right hand side at the top. Check it out!! If you want to purchase anything, just drop me an email (my email link is below my photo on the left or post here and I can email you back to get in touch) and we can get your order in right away. SU! now takes credit cards so it's super easy to do! I promise you - you'll love these!

Ok, off to get things done around here. I have so much to do today - house, kids, pay bills, clean, more laundry, try to clean up my room a bit and MORE!  Have a good day!

July KOTM

I fell in love with Becky Higgins School  kit when it was originally released...and got three, one for each of my kiddos (so they would each have the same and I wouldn't hear any..."that's not fairs" in the years to come".) So, when Becky came out with the companion kit, I was sold. And, I was way lucky to get to play with it this month. Be sure to check out the detailed photos of what comes in this kit - cause their is a lot. Die cut Alpha sticker sheets, tons of paper (double sided) and lots more! I love the little flip book with the little papers - love that!

Anyway, here are the pages that I created with the kit for July. Be sure to check it out before it's gone.

Hudson 'graduating' from his first year of preschool - such a stud!!

Loved using these photos - the top is of Madi on her first day of school and the bottom is on the last day of school. I totally want to do this each year - so fun to see the growth and change.

I had a hard time getting the coloring right on this one when I scanned it - a layout about Jaxon at 4 months old. I need to finish up the journaling about what he's doing and such at this fun age on those library cards in the envelope. See how awesome those papers are! And those number stickers - two whole sheets on lots of borders all from the papers and such - rulers, numbers, alphabets, dots...so cool!

Thanks for taking a peek! Have a fabulous 4th of July!! Can't wait to take LOTS of fun pictures!

Another stamping share...

I've got a layout up at Hero Arts today...I had a lot of fun playing with embossing, stamping on buttons, stamping on acetate tags, background stamps with Versamark, repeat stamping...just a lot of fun stamping! :) :) You can see it here on the Hero Arts Blog and it has a link to all the info on the site if your interested in checking it out. I'm working on a fun project using a bunch of the new Summer Catalog items - wow - so loving the big stamps and the new background stamps!!

Swim lessons finally end tomorrow - so glad! LOL! It's been a busy month already with sessions back to back - but the kids have learned so much and are much more comfortable going in the water. Which is fabulous news! They both will go under now - such improvement!

I got sick last weekend which wiped me out a bit - but feeling better thankfully! I've got a bunch of assignments to get done by this weekend so I gotta get to work today. I've got something fun to share in the next day or two...so check back! So fun and cute! I love it!

Anyway - just a quick post. Have a good Wednesday!

Yummy things!

I typed up this huge post last night with photos and links...and then Typepad ate it. So bugged! That's the first time and argghhhh...it is frustrating! LOL!

So, I'll try to remember what I wrote! :)

First of all, I have been waiting for months for the new releases from Autumn Leaves to come out - and guess what - they are here!!!! Pure bliss - no kidding!

I saw them all listed at Two Peas and to see each item more up close is awesome! I don't have it all in my hands yet, but when I do...trust me, you'll be seeing lots of projects from me! I mean, seriously...Heather Bailey! I love her stuff and am stoked that they did this line! New amazing stamps - and ink pads!!!! :) New Cute boy and girl lines, addition to the Manhattan line - so cool! Lots of new embellishments and such - they really have done a lot this time!

Anywho...you can find the new Heather Bailey stuff here and the rest here. If you find it somewhere else online, please post in the comments to people can get some! You'll love it!

***

Speaking of Heather Bailey - did you see that she released photos of her new fabric lines on her blog. Oh my gosh!!! I'm such a sucker! LOL! That first color scheme with the red, brown, blue...I've already got my pattern picked out and now I just need the fabric. I will be making that quilt as soon as I get that yummy stuff. So love it!!!

***

I love my Scrapbooks, etc. magazine! It has been a huge honor to be apart of the 2008 Creative Team and to be able to contribute to the magazine. I love everyone that works there - truly an amazing team that put their heart and souls into what they do. Do you subscribe? If not, you gotta - now!! I just renewed for 3 years at this great site online that has it for only $6 a year! Yep, $6 a year! Plus, if you enter the coupon code JUNE at checkout, you'll get 20% off - so I think it came to $4.88 or something a year. I got 3 years for under $15! Cool deal! So, grab it now! It really is a fabulous magazine - you can't go wrong!! I promise!

***

Wanna hear a funny?

Yesterday, Hudson went to his friends house from school to play. On Wed., he had a friend over and then went to his house after and Thursday, off to a new friends. He never gets to play with boys his age - he always plays with Madi and her friends on our street which are all girls older than him. Such a bummer. So, he was so happy!

Anyway, I guess they fought a bit over toys and sharing so I went and picked him up. I asked him what they did and he said,

Hudson: "Well, Ben got water on my legs, shorts and shirt with the hose and got me all wet!" he said so upset and sad.
Me: "Oh, he was just playing. Did you cry?"
Hudson: "No, I just pouted."

I laughed so hard. Pouted - what a vocabulary. And yes, I'm sure he cried! LOL!

***

Ok, off to finish a layout for Hero Arts today that will be up next week! It's a fun one. And, we are finally getting our wood blinds installed in our kitchen area and our master bedroom today. I could not be happier! It's going to look awesome! Yippee! Have a great Friday!

Some more cards...

I've got two cards up this week at Hero Arts showcases these fun ticket stamps!

You can see the first one, which was made at the same time as my Father's Day card (hence kinda the same design)

here

and the second one

here.

Also, did you see that their new 2008 Summer Catalog was posted online today! Delicious! 12" long border stamps - so cool! And I'm totally in LUV with all of the new background stamps! I can't wait to play with them - so fun!

Hope you all had a great day yesterday celebrating Father's Day! I got some awesome pictures of the kids at their grandparents last night - I'll share very soon.

Have a great Monday!

Happy Father's Day!

I hope you are able to celebrate the Father's in your life today - whether near or far. Here is a simple card I put together for my hubby...using Stampin' Up! stamps, Hero Arts Notecards & gems, and my good old string and some punches. Have a great, great day!!

Dad - Happy Father's Day! We love you and miss you so so much! We can't wait to be with you in a few weeks! :) Hope you have a safe trip home!

Ryan - Your an amazing husband and father - I hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful day today! We love you!

And thanks for all the posts - I loved the first layout too in the last post - it was pretty much the 1st one - just added too, a different title and a larger photo. Thanks for your responses!

Have a good one!

Look familiar?

First of all - thanks for your last posts! It was so fun to hear which was your fav and why - thanks for sharing! :) Our email has been down for a day and a half (talk about killer) so I'm glad that I'm back up and running!

I had a shot at the May/June BHG cover and it didn't get chosen (Melissa Inman's great layout is on the cover - so cute). But, I thought I'd share my 2 layout options here...that photo is just so cute and colorful! Again - do you have a fav of the two?

I gotta get those Father's Day cards done and I'll try to get them posted before Sunday! :) Happy Friday!

Which do you prefer?

When given an assignment for a magazine, book, etc., there are usually certain things that you need to focus on...i.e.: a color scheme, a certain technique, a sketch, a product, etc. I was given a certain assignment from BHG Scrapbooks, etc. to create a layout that had multiple words on a photo and a color scheme to follow. So, the layout I created had words printed directly on the photo which I created in my photo editing software program. Here is the first layout:

Once I heard back from the editors, they said that they had another layout that was similar and was wondering if I could change the words to be done with stickers, chipboard, rubons, etc. - and to add a photo of the person's face. So, this is the second layout and the one that appeared in the January 2008 magazine (the color is kinda weird - sorry:

Which one do you like the best? I have my personal favorite - which one is your's?
So, if your ever asked to edit a layout or change something - don't get down about it. It happens a lot - to everyone and it's just part of the publishing process. It's not personal - everything in the article needs to work together and sometimes changes have to occur. So - a little share.

Sorry I've been a lame blogger! Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, I was trying to think about where my day went. We've been consumed with swim lessons every morning - which take our day up to noon. Then, cleaning, had to run errands, taking care of Jaxon (feeding, burping, playing, soothing, changing, getting him to sleep, etc.), resolving fights between the older two (which requires a whole other post - any tips to get them to stop fighting non-stop? argghhhhhh), more 'trying' to clean, trying to scrap, etc., etc., etc. And then the day is gone. I seriously feel like I have 10 hours less than everyone else! :)

I've got some Father's Day cards to make - so I'll share those this week. I'll have a Hero Arts share next Monday and some more shares like this. I also want to do some videos but I've been so intimidated to dig into that - but I really want to - so hopefully soon! :)

I got my Canon 40D camera and trying to play with that a bit too. I haven't had much time for photos - I totally need to get some of little Jack Jack - unfortunately - it's been too long and I feel badly about that.

And - my apologies that I haven't been great at getting back to emails lately! I love hearing from everyone and I promise I'm going to do better. It's just been crazy adjusting to kids home and the baby and all.

Hope your all doing well! What have you been up to this summer? Post and say hi! Hugs!

A colorful photo shoot

  I have been working on lots of assignments and printing lots of photos and I was excited when I came across these photos. I kinda forgot about them and haven't had the chance to sit down and look at them. It was so fun getting Jaxon dressed in this cute outfit from the Gap. I loved the colors and had to get it for a cute photo session with him. I took these all on March 13 - so he was a little over 1 1/2 months old. Such a sweetie! I just wanted to share some fun photos of him - oh how they grow so so fast!

Thanks for the emails on the camera and the books - New Moon is a little boring right now and I hope that changes. I better get through it so I can start Eclipse and her new book! :)

I'll be back with more soon! Have a good day!