Hey-howdy-Hello sunshine!

Doesn't this look AMAZING?!

this just happens to be the April kit for Scrapbook Circle. hello sunshine.  this kit has bright fun colors--it truly was a joyful experience to play with.  for example:

 this is my grandma--isn't she cute?  she will be 91 here in a few days!  we have family birthday parties for the kids, hubby and I and she LOVES to come.  the kids have a great time with her--this just happens to be from a party from the beginning of the month.

a little closeup of the yummy layering detail.

**sketchy thursdays is giving one kit away.  go try your hand at their sketch HERE**

yesterday was DD 2nd track meet.  she rocked the hurdles I was surprised I got any shots as I showed up just in time to put myself turn around and shoot with the camera:

 loving the fact that my camera takes GREAT consecutive shots and is ready to roll RIGHT away.  the weather is starting to warm up but is still beautiful.
one more exciting thing I wanted to share.  monday my crock pot died--sad that I had to buy another but as my hubby put it "secretly excited" that it broke.  it went from heating my beans beautifully on monday to not working at all when we went to eat dinner.  so yesterday, after looking at reviews, I went to kohl's with my coupons and got me this:

SO much fancier than my other one.  I asked my hubby what he wanted for dinner--chicken pot pie!  so much for using my new crock pot! :)  tomorrow we have a date!! :)

thanks for sticking around and visiting me today!

Crate Paper news! and a sneaky peak at Hello Sunshine.

I just looked at the crate paper website and my card I sent in was chosen as a FAVORITE in their sketch challenge!  What an honor!!  You can see it HERE, scroll down it's right under Piradee Tilvanna's layout--eek! :)

So the newest kit from Scrapbook Circle is Hello Sunshine look at this FUN peak:

this has some FUN spring colors perfect for those pictures you will be taking now!  Stay tuned for more. :)

Thanks for stopping in for this SHORT post!

Whirly Bird Wed*, winning, and a giveaway

How much do I love the toy box collection from Crate paper?!  SO fun to work with and the helicopter was perfect for this layout.

Yes, this is the 2nd of 3 layouts I will be doing about this day.  Each one of my kids had different pictures and different memories so I need to capture that!

Speaking of memories...this week has been hectic with the preparation for the pinewood derby.  For my middle boy this was his last derby, for my youngest the 1st.  They and their dad worked hard all week on their cars, cutting sanding, painting, weighing.  Sort of crazy--REALLY.  I stepped back and had nothing to do with it until this morning when my expertise in sticker application came in to play--then and ONLY then did I help, and that was it.  The weigh in was a mass of male bodies, weighing cars and just being excited--that would be dads AND boys.  With the weigh in came check in and pictures, then the race began.  Wolves raced, Bears raced, Webelos raced--surprising to me, BOTH of my boys ended up in the top 9 for the run offs.  They finished 1 & 2 out of 24 boys!  They couldn't believe it themselves, we haven't EVER finished in the top 10.  Funnier still, after it was all over both men and boys wanted to check out the winning car's design and learn the secrets.  SILLY!

One more thing.  The amazing Kim Arnold is having a giveaway on her blog-go check it out HERE.

Thanks for stopping in, I'm off to enjoy a sort of quiet Saturday!

crate paper sketch challenge..proud mommy moment

so at crate paper they have a sketch challenge that runs until tomorrow all the details can be seen HERE.  You can make anything you want but you must follow this sketch:

 this is what I came up with:

 the lines are all so different but SO delicious!  One fun note is about the doilie.  You will see it poking out of each card....it's actually all from the same one!  I bought them at Michael's a while back and they have just been sitting here.  I think I could get addicted. :)

one last thing REAL quick!  My girl did well yesterday in her meet.  SO glad I took my camera, this is one of my favorite shots of the day:

Beautiful day, kids all had fun--what more could you ask for?

Thanks for popping in for a peek!  Have a great one!

**post edit My layout 1st day in fourth grade was picked as a Sketchy thursdays fav!  Thanks girls!!**

Snack'n at the park.

Oh, my goodness.  I'm excited to share this layout with you--I had a REALLY fun time reminiscing.  You see this cute little kid is my 8 year old!  I found these pictures on my hard drive and realized I hadn't ever scrapped them.  The picture on the left shows him eating Wendy's fries.  NO, we didn't go out to eat all that much when my kiddos were little it was a treat....Anyway, can you see why this kid's nickname is Sweetness?  I don't know that he is going to like that when he is a teenager but he is a sweet kid.

 a closeup of the top:

 a closeup of the bottom.  yes, that is a crimper you see....

pattern paper: lily bee designs

the little blue flag: Elle's studio

brad stars: Making memories

red brad: Basic grey

mist: tattered angels

crimper: fiskars

baker's twine, sewing

border punch: fiskars

letters: my little shoebox, American crafts

Just got back from a 4 mile run with Ella the vizsla, she is now nice quiet, and calm.  Me?  I actually am feeling pretty good--don't know what will happen when I stand up though. :)  

Today my daughter has her first track meet--she is pretty excited.  Yesterday they had run offs to see who would be competing, they can only take 3 kids in each event.  She qualified for the 75 hurdles, 100 meters, and long jump.  I'm almost beside myself with excitement--hence the 4 mile run...My hubby says I'm more excited than she is!  I'm trying not to be to out of control--you see track was MY sport.  YES, I'm taking my camera (trying to figure out how to make my shutter speed faster-might just put it on the running man for that...), have my stadium chairs, have a large umbrella if I need it, will be packing snacks, picking up the boys from school early....

Well, I'm off this is errand day. And I have to be creative with dinner as I still have one kiddo that has soccer tonight.  Thanks for staying with me this far!  And thanks so much for popping in! :)

sketchy Thursdays 3.17

Can I say SUPER fun sketch?!

 a closeup of the misting....(I've used this mask of stars on another layout I will be sharing this week), I just went a little crazy with the misting, but boy is it fun to get messy!

 Closeup of the title..

This layout really came together quickly once I decided to flip it.  All of the paper is the new studio calico, the mist is a combo of shimmerz and tattered angels, the lettering is Jenni Bowlin, Making memories, and the brads are from Basic Grey.

I'm on the run today.  Off to pick up kids from piano and then to a appreciation dinner tonight at the church--Mexican--Yum!  and the the good part about it?  I don't have to fix it! :)

Thanks for checking in!

Bubba Ben and a TOOT!!

the Vintage Market kit from Scrapbook Circle has such YUMMY papers!  I was really excited to be able to scrap some of my more masculine pictures with it.  This page of my son was actually a lift of Marie, (if you click HERE you can see her beautiful layout and that of Rebecca on the design team) I just flipped it, I am really diggin' that large scalloped punch SO fun to play with!

On this layout I used paper from a new company called simple stories (it's the striped and the journaling card) just love the vintage feel to their paper.

Now for my Toot!!  My layout the boys was featured on the Club CK blog on their March 21 Scrapbook Inspiration!  you can check it out HERE.  I feel so honored--thank you CK! :)

Unfortunately we are back on a schedule today.  Luckily though 2 of the 3 soccer practices got cancelled due to people still out of town.  DARN?! :)  It's a good thing because the boys have to work on their upcoming pinewood derby this week!  So cute to see DH and the boys working together to create these little cars.  

It's a little chilly today so I have my windows closed and I've got long pants and a sweatshirt on.  It's also been raining a bit who knows, maybe the 3rd practice will be cancelled too!  Just not fun to sit out in the wind and cold...just saying. :)

Thanks for popping in for a visit!  Make today a GOOD one!

siblings, movies, and a new garden--GIVEAWAY!

These three had spring break this week, it was nice not having a schedule.  And I think they had a great time without me asking them do stuff. well, that is until today....you would've thought I asked them to do something hard--clean the loft I said.  It got done, there WERE NOT happy campers--except for me. :) 

I had the best time playing with my lily bee designs stash, there are SEVERAL lines all mixed in together.  Did you notice my new border punch?  this was pretty much it's maiden voyage---I LOVE it!!  I really like how all of these papers are very different but go together like a quilt.  A quilt has it's own plan but is made up of so many DIFFERENT designs of material it makes it beautiful.  

The sketch is from Inspired blueprints.

Yesterday my hubby and I went and saw I am Number 4.

 I liked it a lot, so did he--I read the book he did not.  I like to go into a movie and expect to be entertained most of the time I am sometimes I'm not.  Like this movie:

My kids didn't like it either--to bad to because I really liked the story line.  There were parts that needed to be cut shorter and a little bit to much adult humor for a kids movie.  If you do want to see it I would wait until you can get it on red box.  Just saying....

My daughter and I planted our garden yesterday.  There were several things that we could've started from seeds but as we are still learning we let Lowe's handle that part.  So we planted, tomatoes (we ARE going to get them right this time!), corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, garlic (in it's OWN container--weird thing they already smell like garlic), and bell peppers.  I learned from the last time DON'T plant things you won't eat!  Although very exciting to see the little guys grow it's a waste if you don't use them, I got a little over excited about the parsley...one would've been good.... :) I'll keep ya posted!

Almost forgot!  There is a GIVEAWAY on Cathy Zielske's blog HERE for the Vintage Market kit from Scrapbook Circle.  I have it on good authority that it is almost sold out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy St. Patty's day!

Got up WITHOUT green on!  Big mistake my 8 year old reminded me with a GREAT big pinch!  OUch!!  Then I realized I could pinch him back--NO green. :)  No, underwear doesn't count-ya gotta see it!  my Nanny taught me when I was VERY young. :)

spent the morning editing scanned photos from the 70's for my hubby and loading them to snapfish.  They have a deal right now you can order 100 4x6 photos + shipping for $5!  Ya bet ya I took advantage of that!  Here is the  code:  PADDY20  You have until March 21.

my frustration this spring break morning?  Children please can you just CLEAN YOUR ROOMS?!  I sounds like a broken record, we've played hard, had fun without really any cleaning....  I'm ready to PLAY again! 

 Actually I want to run to home depot and buy some plants for our garden, we are enjoying our carrots, peas, and lettuce now.  I want to get tomatoes, and peppers.

it's sort of springish weather around here and I have a FUN layout to share:

 EEK!  this bike paper is DARLING, I was hoping to able to use it, then I remembered I had this picture.

 I wanted my butterflies to have some life, I popped them up and gave them some antenna.  I twisted the wire over a thin paint brush.

LOVED the cloud paper in this Jillibean line too--HAD to add it also!

okay, I can't close this post without mentioning the Weekend Warm up over at Scrapbook Circle, it's open to EVERYONE you don't have to be a subscriber.  What's up for grabs?  Some LOVELY Elle's studio.  Check it out HERE.

Well, looks like my partner in crime is ready to go--thanks for dropping in!  Hope you have a FAB day!

100% boy

This will be a REAL quick post, family is watching the show without me! :)  I had the best time being creative with the Jillibean Soup spotted owl soup collection, it's actually a birthday collection. 

I had the best time picking the font from the free fonts I've gotten from creating keepsakes, EVERY Friday there is a new one.  The title (My Mind's eye) I have had for at least 5 years just waiting for the time to use it.  Once I saw these pictures and the spotted owl collection I knew it would be perfect!

I popped the picture again--sure love this effect.  Looks so much better in person.

here is where you can see the birthday song:

I just wanted to thank you for popping in for the visit!

the boys....

These are the boys that live in my house:

this layout was so FUN to put together.  These pictures are from our family photo shoot in December and I have been saving them for just the right paper.  I found them in the Vintage Market kit--LOVE it!

I'm happy to report that my skill in the manual mode of my camera is improving--yes, already! :)  I'm very hands on--I realized quickly that I need to be paying attention to the spot metering as my camera was focusing on random people instead of the people I wanted to take pictures of.  What I was surprised was that the color was SO much better than on the automatic athletic mode--it just was.  What the heck was I afraid of?

Off to a family party of cake and ice cream for DH--yipee!  Thanks for the Sunday visit.  Hope you are enjoying the time with your family....

Afraid....and a couple of cards

why are we so afraid of things?  Right now I'm talking creative stuff like, shooting in Manual mode on the camera OR scrapping digital OR working with Photoshop--what is up with that?  I've come to the conclusion it's probably a couple of things.  

First, we don't want to MESS up.  Ummm....yeah NO ONE is perfect no matter what you may think, they had to work at whatever too!  Give yourself a break!

2nd, it takes work.  Our society likes things quick and easy--hence all the fast food chains and restaurants.  Speeding, irritated when the electronic return thing at the library doesn't work and I have to get out of the car.....(I that last comment was for me, in fact all of this is for me...)

The other day I shot in Manual mode!  You know what I read stuff on how to do it.  The instructions were like a foreign language, my very first shot was COMPLETELY black.  But I kept at it not giving up and I got one of these:

EEK!  There are people in it! I was sitting in the dark auditorium looking up on the stage.  Sort of excited because my old camera would NEVER have done this.  The girl with the green folder belongs to me.... :)  anyway, I am going to give a little more effort to shooting in manual mode.  And if I switch back to auto, that's okay too.  But if I shoot in Manual mode I have more creativity....
Speaking of creativity....lately I have been playing like crazy and have a couple of cards I wanted to share:

most of these supplies are Jillibean soup for both cards.  There is also fiskars, making memories, kaiser, basic grey.  

Have field day at the school today, bringing the old camera--might even shoot in manual too! :) Thanks for checking in with me today!  Hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend!

birthday boy

These pictures are of my youngest, I really don't know why I took them with my cell phone but they turned out SO cute.  I used the new vintage market kit from Scrapbook Circle.  I've got to tell you it is packed with some FABULOUS stickers.  Echo park, Jenni Bowlin, and Crate paper.  I wasn't so sure that I was going to like stickers anymore.  I used to have a HUGE collection (collection being the operative word) but gave them to my children to play with.  I did however save my alpha stickers.  I'm just saying they're coming out with AWESOME stickers and we have a bunch in the kit!  (The yellow scallop, the celebrate, title, the #8, and red border are all stickers)

this little ticket is from our print outs, isn't it cool?  yes, you see a pop dot underneath it... :)

Are you wondering about the font, it was FREE from Creating Keepsakes, I follow their blog and every Friday they have a new FREE font.

The weather here has been absolutely GORGEOUS, loving not having to run the air conditioner or heater--just having the windows open is AWESOME!

Thanks for stopping in--hope it's a good one for you.

Happy Birthday to you!

In honor of my DH birthday I give you Happy Birthday cards:

supplies used:

pattern paper: Jillibean soup

pearls: basic grey

sewing

punches: martha stewart, ek success

stickers: girls' paperie

I made the grass by punching it, cutting it and flipping it to the opposite.  EASY and fun!

supplies used:

pattern paper: jillibean soup

popdots, sewing

silver bobbles: unknown bought at Michaels

Today is my catch up day.  Making bread, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and the house.  So nice to be quiet and not on someone else's schedule.  Sometimes I feel like a mouse on a wheel running as fast as I can but not getting anywhere.  Do you ever feel like that?

Looking forward to some hot bread, I'm hungry!  Thanks for popping in for the visit.

Pikes place market

I have had a great time playing with the newest kit from Scrapbook Circle, Vintage Market.  SO many fun papers and embellishments!  I was asked to showcase the Maya road mini tags included in the kit, they are CUTE!  I left them blank on purpose, I loved the added texture that they gave to my layout.  What you can't tell from this shot is that the *I remember* and *Life* are popped up on pop dots.  I never used to use them at all and now I can't stop! :)

Lisa has some FANTASTIC things up in the shop you need to go and check out!  I know I filled my cart yesterday and can't wait to play with my new purchases.

Today has been a relatively quiet day around here--THANK GOODNESS!  DH and I did have to make a run to get paint chips for house colors.  NOT looking forward to having that done but at the same time I am.  Not because of the $$ but I know it will look good when we get it all done! :)  I'm going with the same colors.  I know boring but really I bought the house because I liked the colors.  Funny story the HOA gives you choices or you can make your own combination pending their approval.  ANYWAY, I knew what I wanted and had the colors picked out in the store, DH didn't wasn't so sure, and BAM--  they were right on the same colors we have now.  yes, I impressed him.  I explained to him, "you need to trust me.  I do colors ALL the time."  Scrapbooking has other uses besides creating layouts! :)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Celebrate--March birthday card

Just a drive by post with March's birthday card:

super simple.  I cut all of these shamrocks out with my Cricut.  The glittered one happened by accident really...I wasn't so sure of the prints because it had a lot of different colors in it other than green (it belonged to the collection.) but I wanted to focus on GREEN.  I picked out my pink paislee glitter, I'm always surprised how a little bit goes a LONG way!  The print on the front is from two different fonts....

Thanks for dropping in!  Off to wake up kiddos for soccer photos! :)  Hope you are having a GREAT weekend.

dig'n up bones

A couple of weeks ago we watched the movie Holes and the closing credits has a song that says, "dig'n up holes" the song was running through my head when I made this layout about my son's field trip where they got to dig up "dinosaur bones", pretty cool!  I thought when I was a kid that it would be cool to be an anthropologist, umm yeah that didn't happen but I still find shows about ancient Egypt.  ANYWAY.....here is the layout:

 some sweet closeups:

 your seeing some sassafrass, studio calico, making memories, fiskars, and girls' paperie.  I just was grabbing whatever was on my desk. :)

Oh, I'm pretty excited!!  We ate Romaine lettuce, carrots, and snap peas from our garden for dinner!  This is the first time really out of my attempts at gardening that I have had success, DH was surprised too! :)  Ha thanks to the AZ plant lady, my little garden has been fruitful!  I won't share pictures because it looks totally random and is sort of embarrassing....the kids were to cute, "mom!  we need to do this again!"

off to read, The ghost of Lost Island....oohhh....my cute little 8 year old picked it out at the library for 5 cents (they were cleaning out all the old books.)He thought it sounded exciting, it's above his reading level but when he saw that I had finished my other book he brought it to me all excited, how could I turn that down?  He keeps asking me if I like it. :)  it's okay for a fourth grade book.  One day when he does read it we can talk about it.  I try and read books that my kids will read so I have some idea and also make suggestions....I'm off!
Thanks for stopping in!

what a day!

I've had a very interesting FULL day today.  Started early like it always does, got everyone off to school without a hitch, well. almost.  Went out to my car to take the boys to the bus stop (I go to the gym in the mornings) and it wouldn't even start!  We had like 3 minutes before the bus came.  Tender mercy #1. DH was home and I could take his vehicle.  So I did and went to the gym and came back for the diagnosis on my car.  Dead battery, not even starting and letting it idle brought it back--bummer.  Tender Mercy #2.  If you have followed me for any length of time you will know that when the kids get home it's constant go somewhere in the car.  This just happened to be a "down" day, I didn't have to really be anywhere or do any errands.  Tender mercy #3 has to do with #1 that my hubby was home, and he had the know how to fix it for me.  What is a Tender Mercy you might be asking.  Let me tell you.  Put simply it's our Heavenly Fathers way of letting us know he loves us, those simple blessings that happen in our lives.  I believe sometimes they happen to us and we don't recognize them for what they are.  I know this was true for me until I heard THIS talk.  It's help me to know that my Heavenly Father knows me individually and is just waiting to bless me.

On to crafting I was asked by Tessa at Perfectly Precocious to guest design for the month of March.  She has a WONDERFUL etsy store that carries her handmade flowers and such.  Her product is GREAT quality and was sure fun to work with.
here is what I got to play with:

I made a bookmark by sewing the green ribbon together, then I hot glued the leaves to the back of the flower, I then hot glued the flower to the ribbon:

I put clips on the back of these SUPER cute flowers (DD wanted these from day 1!), you can wear them as clips on your clothes, in your hair or on a head band.

 I altered a picture holder that I picked up at Michael's.  I painted it and then hot glued the flower to the front.  I then tied the raffia ribbon, and blue ribbon, then used the stick pin for the center, EASY PEASY!

 Thank you Tessa for the chance to play! I'm telling you, you NEED to go check out her etsy store! :)

Thanks so much for stopping in!