It's almost here!!

So much rushing around for the past few weeks, the big day is almost here!! It always sneaks up so fast!! There is never enough time to get all the fun things done that we would love to do!! We managed to fit in a few of our favorites!

Decorating a gingerbread house:



Going to Hersheypark's Christmas Candy Lane:


And trying SO hard to get the perfect Christmas picture for our cards!!


Macy did several other fun things this year! She went to a little party with Mrs. Claus that was held at Boscov's, our local department store. She met up with her friend, Steph, there. They got their faces painted! Macy is a snowflake and Steph got a reindeer!


She took her first Daisy Girl Scout field trip. We went to Walmart where the girls bought clothing for a 6 year old girl whose house burned down in a bad fire. We bought some household items as well. She went to her first scrapbooking workshop and met up with her new friend, Steph! Here they are with one of their projects!


Jack participated in his first preschool Christmas program yesterday! He did so good!! I was very proud of him! He's been having separation problems again these past 2 weeks, so I was very happy that he stood up on stage and performed so nicely!! I don't have any pictures from that, I was videotaping for Chris (and Macy) since he had to work. My mom and I went to watch him. :)

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! I probably won't get to blog until after the big day!!

Some projects

Here are some recent projects I completed.

I did this chalkboard easel for the Creative Cafe project at memory lane pa last Saturday. Such an easy, fun project!


I had a few leftover boards, so I made this little snowman sign. I will let the kids write "Santa Stop Here" or something like that!


I made this little cone Christmas tree with the ILove2Create December kit. It was inspired by the tag trees they have at Starbucks right now!


This ornament also used the IL2C December kit. I put some of the fantasy fibers inside the bulb and then used MM foil and flocking rub ons on the outside.


I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It is freezing rain here now. yuck!

Snow!!

Some recent layouts!!

I took this picture way back in 2001!! Chris and I went to Atlantic City for our anniversary. That's what we did every year before we had kids! I remember this particular year, our room had a bidet! I have pictures of that too, but won't post that! LOL

I loved this picture I captured of the sea gull! I did the background with many different Radiant Rain sprays!! I just love those!! The cardstock started as pink!

This is the last layout I did before my mojo left me!








Here's a really quick one of Jack on his 3rd birthday in December. I added some texture to the background by stamping with a piece of plastic canvas. This didn't turn out like I had pictured in my head, but it's another one for the books!









And here's one I did with the December ILove2Create December kit. It featured DCWV papers, Making Memories foil and flocking kit and fantasy fibers. I made the "JOY" by ironing the fantasy fibers into a sheet, stamping the letters on them and then cutting them oput. These are pictures from last Christmas.


That's it for now! It's snowing here!! Have a great day!!

The tree is up!!!

We went and got our tree today! I picked a different kind this year. I am usually a Fraser Fir girl and decided that I wanted to be different! So, we got a Concolor (white fir) this year!! It is so pretty! It's got a whitish color to it's needles and has a citrus pine scent . . . mmmmmmmm!!!

Chris put on the lights and the kids and I decorated it. I love how the lights really make it look white in the pics! I have to get pine roping yet tomorrow to finish our mantle. I need to pick up some fake snow for my village set too. The candles for the windows are somewhere up in the attic, so I'll need to brave that yet tonight!

We rearranged the furniture this year so we could put the tree right in front of the window. In our 7 1/2 years here, we've always put it to either side of the fireplace. But, I love seeing a full view of Christmas trees in the windows from outside and I wanted us to have that this year!! It looks a little funny since we're not used to it, but with the tree, it looks beautiful!!

I will be posting some new layouts this week sometime too!!

Thanks for reading!

It's done!!!!!

I am done reorganizing my scraproom!!!! I love it!!! It is so inspiring in there now!! So clean!! I have moved things around so now my main desk space has so much more room!! Although, I will probably still end up working in a 6x6 inch space, that always seems to happen when I'm creating!! All sorts of stuff gets piled up on my desk and cuts into the work area! I think the room is about 15 feet x 15 feet.

So, here it is!!! The pics aren't that great because of the sun that comes in.

The view when you walk into the room. On the wall to the right, that you can't see, that is where my Expedit is.


More of the main desk area. I store my large files full of patterned paper under my desk. There are also extra ink pads and background stamps down there. I'm probably going to go back to Ikea and get the railing system to hang above my desk, to hang little pots of trims and buttons in. That will free up even more desk space!


Here's the kid area. That is their storage tower there. I have black tray tables that they pull out and set up when they want to do some crafting! I'm going to get a bunch of black frames to put pics in above the futon.

You also see my Cricut station there. I wanted the Ikea Sonne cart for this, but it was discontinued. I came across this corner tv stand at Walmart and I love it even more and it's black!! The Sonne was white!


More storage area, besides all the storage bins under the desks. I could easily use another Expedit, but it wouldn't fit!! I stuck an old dresser in the closet. It houses cardmaking supplies, Sizzix dies, completed projects and so much more! I had to keep the Scrapworks BayBox albums in there, they don't fit in the Expedit. I have more completed albums in my bedroom that I need to remember to bring down into there! I need to reorganize the shelf in that closet again! It's looking a little messy!


There is also a closet to the left when I walk in the door. It's a disaster in there right now! I need to clean that out and will store some more stuff in there!!

Thanks for looking!! Have a great weekend, we don't have many plans here!! A nice relaxing weekend!

Awful blogger!!!

Ugh, I have been a horrible blogger!!

What have I been up to lately? Not too much!! We've started going to the gym several times a week, either just the two of us or as a family. It's been fun! I think I can finally say that Jack has outgrown his separation anxiety! He begged to go with me to the gym today, to play in their kid area! So, I gave in, a little worried, and he was wonderful!!

My friend, Tracy asked me if I could take some pictures of her and her family for their Christmas cards. So, on Sunday, the kids and I went to do that. We stopped at Daniel Boone Homestead first but they were closed because of it being Veteran's Day, so we hit our local park instead! Little did we know that the area we spent at least an hour in was private property. We got the hint when they sent 2 dogs out after us! LOL Nice dogs, at least!! I took 518 pictures!! All on AV priority mode!! Go me!!! We got some good ones! I can't take credit for the posing, Tracy did that, but all the camera settings were mine!!

Yesterday, she sent me some of her favorites, so I picked my fave and scrapped it! It was nice inspiration to scrap something or someone that I don't normally scrap!! Change is good!


She has such a photogenic family, doesn't she? Very patient too!

I did this one for my LSS as well. It's not my favorite, but the mojo was seriously lacking at that point!


And, I just did this one tonight. That cool circle felt trim is from the new Creative Cafe from Creative Imaginations! Fab stuff!
My layouts tend to be left sided dominant lately! LOL


Thanks for reading!! I've got a lot of catching up to do with my blog hopping!! I am seriously behind!! Hopefully I can do that within the next few days!!

PageMaps and ILove2Create

Good Monday morning!! Did last week just fly by or what??

I've got lots 'o stuff to share this morning!!

First, I was asked to do a sketch interp for the PageMaps November sketches. I had a lot of fun doing it!! I just love this picture!!


The ILove2Create November kit features Websters Pages and velour!! What a fun technique!! The velour comes in sheets that you can run through your printer or do so much more with it!! I printed on it, put it through my Expression, embossed it with my iron, spritzed it with Radiant Rains, and stamped on it!! So much fun!! I'm definately going to need more!! It adds such a great touch!! Check out the website for more info!!
This first layout is actually my first sort of "hybrid" layout. The large scalloped circle is from the 2 Peas October Orange kit by Jennifer Pebbles. That kit is awesome!! I think I'm going to be using it some more!! It's so me!!


Here are a few other creations!




Thanks for taking a peek at them!!

So, we finally got all the model train stuff moved out of my scraproom!! Woot!! I rearranged a bit and am now going through my IKEA catalog to pick out what else I need from there!! I think we may try to head there on Friday!! Yay!! I can't wait for it to be all finished!!

Have a great week, friends!! Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween pictures!!

I'm finally getting around to posting the kids Halloween pictures!!

Macy had a parade at school on Wednesday. Jack and I went to watch her. It was so cute seeing all the kids dressed up!


Macy went home with a friend that day, they had early dismissal, and Jack had a little friend over to play! Notice that they both have their Crocs on the wrong feet!


Halloween night we went trick or treating with the neighbors. Jack and I stopped a little sooner than the rest because his little legs were getting tired! Macy continued on with the neighbors!

I could not get a pic of the 2 of them together! Macy was Minnie Mouse and Jack was Woody from Toy Story. I guess he is being a tough sheriff!!





They had a great time!! I was so glad that Jack had preschool the following day!! I forgot to put the candy up high Halloween night, so Jack got up early and got into it and had a bunch of candy for breakfast!! I feel so bad for the teachers that day!!

Have a great weekend!! Not much planned here! I will post some new layouts on my next post!

Fall Fun!!

It's such a wonderful time of year!! So many fun things to do!!

Saturday, I took a fabulous photography class with Karen Russell at memory lane, pa!! Wow, she was fantastic!! She explained everything in such an easy to understand manor!! I have been taking pictures on manual (well, aperture priority) mode since then!! I love it!!! I still have a lot to learn, but it's so fun!! Hey, I may even sit down and read my manual!

Sunday, the kids and I went to Wilcox Farms and did the kid corn maze, the hay bale maze and play area! They had a blast!! I've never gone in a corn maze without Chris and I must admit that I was a little worried if I'd be able to find my way out, but it was easy! There were only 6 check points and we got all of them but one. I let the kids start off and didn't realize that the first point was right at the beginning, so we past it and by the time we were done, they didn't want to go back in and find it! They were just busting to get onto the huge play gym!


Last night, we carved our pumpkin. The kids loved playing in the guts! We even roasted the pumpkin seeds for the first time. Mmmm, now those are yummy!!! We finished them off this afternoon!


I took the kids over to my parents in their costumes tonight. They looked so cute! I'm going to try to get a pic of them together again tomorrow. Jack will not stand next to Macy! LOL I will keep trying though and post my success!!

Macy's school is having their Halloween parade in the morning! So, Jack and I will watch that and take pictures!! They also have early dismissal and she's going to go home with her friend, Lydia, who lives 2 blocks away. Jack is having his little girlfriend over tomorrow to play too, while her mommy goes to her brothers Halloween party at school!! Chris asked him tonight if she was cute, he said "yes". LOL My little man!!

We had a few trick or treaters tonight! The kids are so excited to go out tomorrow night! We're walking around with our neighbors! We hope to get back in time to hand out some candy too!!

Have a great day!! Did ya notice I changed my music for the occasion?

Hi!

Hi there!! Thanks for all the congrats on the previous post!! My aunts and dad were happy to see that, with both my Grandmom and me in there!! I think they went out looking for the issue!

Been busy here!! It's so nice having Chris home more often!! Tuesday the 2 of us went out for lunch and to Borders for some browsing and coffee. We have to be careful though, it could get really expensive having him home and Jack in school!! But, it is SO worth it!!

I've been busy working on the November ILove2Create kit! It features Websters Pages papers and some fun unique embellishments plus inkjet printable velour paper. I also did an example with the project kit this month. That is an 8x8 Maya Road chipboard album that I made into a 2008 calendar. Such a great idea for a gift, but I think I'm gonna keep mine!


I've also been asked to be on the design team for my favorite LSS, memory lane, pa. So, I've been busy creating for there and a class I am going to teach there next month.

We got our new windows in the kitchen on Tuesday. They look fabulous and make the kitchen look about 50% better, I just can't wait till it's all completed, it will be dynomite (said in my best JJ voice!).

Have a great day!!!

What I've been waiting for!!

The Nov/Dec issue of Scrapbooks Etc finally arrived today!!! I have been waiting for this for the last 2 1/2 months!!! I was so excited back in August when I got a call for a layout I submitted to them!! It was one of my scrapbook goals for the last 2 years to be picked up by Scrapbooks Etc and it happened!!! Here it is!! I still can't believe it's in there!! It's not the best picture, but I was too lazy to scan it!


This layout is so dear to me. It was my way of coping with my Grandmother's death, she died in January 2006. She made sure I had my fastnachts every year!!! I betcha she is smiling down on me right now!!

In preschool news, I hate to say this fearing I may jinx myself, but Jack has been good for the last 3 class days!!! I hope we have finally gotten over the hump!! He has made some friends in his class now, so I know that is helping tons!! I picked him up on Tuesday and he was talking about Molly, she was the leader for the day, "Molly is my best friend" he was saying!!! Awwwwww, melts my heart!! I asked him to show me her today, but he said later that she wasn't at school today. He also has another girlfriend and one boy that he talks about too!! My little guy is growing up!!!

While he was at school, I did some shopping. I needed a new laundry basket and also decided I was going to do over my bathroom. It is time to switch to the fall/winter ensemble and I am getting sick of what I have, so I decided to get all new!! Everything is brand new, in the color scheme of brown and aqua. I even cleaned from top to bottom in there, scouring all the tile and the ceiling!! We have a closet bathroom, seriously, I don't think I can lay down in it, not even on the diagonal! I guess big bathrooms were not the thing back in the 50's!! But, it's so small and we don't have an exhaust fan in there, add in Chris's long showers and there is a lot of steam and then the mildew shows up on the ceiling, yuck!! So, I scrubbed all that off with a bleach/h20 combo and bleached my brand new comfy jammies in the process!! Silly me forgot to take them off the back of the door while I was scrubbing. There are a few spots of rusty orange on the brown now. But hey, the bathroom is sparkling and I like rusty orange!

We've got family night at Macy's school tomorrow. We're doing pumpkin painting. It should be fun, she's been talking about it for weeks!

I think Jack finally fell asleep, so I'm going to mosey up to my scraproom and see if I can find some creativity!!

Have a great weekend!!

Lunch date!

It was nice having Chris home all day yesterday!! I was able to run to the store and just get in and get out, not having to worry about little Jack hands getting into things!

Jack has preschool today, so the two of us are going to go out for a nice lunch after Chris drops him off! Very excited about that!! If time permits, we're going to do a little shopping too!

I'm hoping Jack will do well at school. He did great last week, just about 2 minutes of crying on Tuesday and nothing on Thursday! My sweet little guy!! I went to pick him up last week and he must've spotted me. I heard him telling everyone "I see my Mommy out there". Too cute!! He's so little, yet so big!! I think he'll do even better with Chris dropping him off since he's not as attached to Daddy as he is to Mommy!!

Not much to say today!! I'll close with a layout that I did for ScrapGal. Our theme this month is pretend. I took a little twist to the theme and scrapped about my little quirks, which are embarrassing by the way so if you want to read them, you will have to squint!! No way I'm typing them out!! It was a lot of fun to do!! I love doing layouts about my self that I sort of poke fun of me!!! This is my last monthly layout for them, as my term ends this month! I was lucky to get 2 terms, and I will miss designing for them, but there is a great new inspiration coming in with the new team!!! :)

Have a great Tuesday!

It's the weekend!

Happy weekend!!

Thank you for all of your birthday wishes!!

Just to let you know, I did cancel my dentist appointment and went shopping on my birthday!! I didn't find much for the kids. I was disappointed in the new Childrens Place lines and everything I wanted at Gymboree was out of size 6 and 3T!! I do have to hit the Gymboree in my mall today, I have more Gymbucks to use and they expire today. It is a sin if you don't take full advantage of your Gymbucks! LOL

I found 3 shirts and a pair of new jammies for me at Kohl's. Kohl's has the best jammies! So warm and comfy! I also got more makeup and hair wax (which I've desperately needed!) All that courtesy of my parents for my birthday! Gotta love them!

Now that Rock of Love is over, I need to find another reality show. While flipping through the channels the other day, I thought I caught a glimpse of my favorite rocker guy!! So, I researched it!! The show is called something like the next greatest rock band. AND, Johnny Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls is one of the judges - be still my heart!!! How awesome is that!! I think it premiered this past Friday night on FOX but I was at Bunko, so I need to find a rerun and then watch it from now on!!!

Chris had his last day of work on Friday!! Yay!! He resigned from his ED nurse manager position and is taking a full time job (instead of per diem) on the medical helicopter. He will also be part time as ED nurse educator at the hospital. He will work a ton less hours now, get paid for any extra hours worked now that he will not be salaried anymore and be home with us more!! So exciting!! I am so happy that this all worked out so we could do it! It will also be nice that it will just be the two of us on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Jack is in preschool and he has off! Imagine that, just the 2 of us!!

The kids painted their pumpkins this week! We are going to get more hopefully today.



Check out these lips of concentration!! So cute!! Now I may have to do a duplicate layout like the one I did of Macy below!!


We were hoping to go do the whole fall fun things today, but all the good places are closed on Sundays. So, I'm not sure what we're going to do. Chris just left for a little bike ride. I would've loved for us all to go but my ears and nose would've been frozen solid by the time we were done, so I got out of it! LOL

I'm having a little crisis because I cannot find the battery charger for my camera!! I don't know how this happened because I have the perfect put away spot for it!! A kid must have walked away with it at some point. I hope I can find it, my power is getting low!!! ACK!!! I don't even want to think of what a new charger might cost!!

Alright, I need to get dressed and cleaned up!! Have a wonderful Sunday!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yeah, so tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be 33. How did I get to be 33? Didn't I just turn 21? Not that 33 is old, it's just that I never thought I could be that old!

So, what am I doing to celebrate, you ask? Hmm, I'm supposed to go to the dentist at 1:45 and have a filling done. boohoo!! Yes, a filling!! My 2nd filling of my entire life and I am to have it filled on my birthday! UGH!! But, we have a case of "the froat" as we like to call it, going around in the house. I have had "the froat" for the last 4 days or so. That's what Macy used to call it before she knew that it was really "throat", we've adapted it into our medical terminology!

I'm not sure if I can keep my mouth open wide for the amount of time it takes to do a filling. They tell me it's about 15 minutes, but I haven't had one (and my first one) done since I was 21. Do you know that I cried then? I am lucky that I have good teeth and never knew what the drilling, etc was! I sure hope I don't cry tomorrow. Maybe it's okay for a 21 year old, but a 33 year old? Ha! So, I may call tomorrow morning and reschedule, depending how the "froat" is in the morning!

Macy has already made me my present. It's sitting in on the living room table but I am not to look! My parents gave me my card on Sunday and it is all prepped and ready to be opened tomorrow! I told Chris I didn't need anything since I told him months ago when I bought my Cricut Expression that that could be my birthday present. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if he came home with some flowers. :)

Some new layouts!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!!

Saturday I got to crop with a great group of friends and Sunday Chris and I had a date day!! Can't get much better than that, huh?

Here are 3 of my latest layouts.

The last one I did for an ad challenge I'm hosting at ScrapGal.

Thanks for looking!! Have a great week!

Woohoo!!!

Well, we signed the paperwork on our new kitchen today and it's on it's way to the cabinetmaker!!! So excited!!! :)

Here is the style of cabinet we picked out. I'm not sure if that's the exact color, but it is close. I think we also picked out a glaze to go over top, sort of like a chocolate color.


He is also custom building us a cabinet to fit into an old set of small steps that we have in here too. The doors will match the rest of the cabinets too.

We also decided on a quartz countertop over Corian. I'm thinking something like this.


We need to pick out the exact countertop color yet as well as the ceramic tile floor. They will all be neutral.

I'm hoping to paint the walls a nice lighter rusty orange color. We'll also be getting a new dishwasher and over the stove microwave.

The new windows for the kitchen were being ordered today. We will be getting replacement windows in the whole house when spring rolls around. We want to make sure there aren't any unexpected expenses that arise with the kitchen, plus winter is not a good time for getting new windows!

So, we are SO excited!!! I can't wait to pick out the rest of the colors and go shopping for a new light fixtures, faucets and handles! Woohoo!!!

Exciting times!!

Lots of fun things going on here at the household!

Here are some pics from my cousin's wedding on Saturday. They aren't the best, but you get the idea!!

(clockwise from top left: Jack and baby Joscelyn - yep, he loves her!, my great Uncle and cousin (his daughter), Macy and Mandy (her cousin, the bride's daughter), my Grandmother and other great Uncle, my cousin Amy and the girls!)

The 3 sisters: my Aunt Jean, Aunt Barb and my mom. Man do they look more alike than ever! They would probably kill me if they knew I was posting this on the internet, but, they don't know I have a blog, unless someone rats me out!! Hey, they probably don't even know what a blog is! LOL


Me and the kids glittered pumpkins on Sunday. They may not be like Martha's, but they had an awesome time doing it!! I used my Making Memories glitters that I bought so long ago and never took out of the package! LOL


We also made pipe cleaner people that day!


AND, Macy has been practicing on the teeny tiny 12" bike without any training wheels!! She got it!!! She can ride the sidewalk and not touch down with her feet!! Of course, her knees almost hit the handlebars and the seat is cranked as high as it will go, but we thought it best for her to practice on this one first!!


Now we need to transition to her 20" bike!! That will probably be rough!! It is pretty big. I did put a wanted out on Freecycle to see if anyone has a 16" that they'd be willing to part with, but no bites.

Have a great day!!

Sniff, sniff

Yes, that was me last night while watching the season finale of Rock of Love!! I was so happy to see that skanky butt Heather gone!! How nasty!! Ewww!!

I teared up with Jes and the diabetes scene.

I teared up at the end when Bret picked Jes.

I teared up after I went searching around the internet to find out that the whole thing was like a total set up and they aren't even together!!

How could I be so lame!! LOL I really thought they seemed perfect for each other!! If that was acting, dang they are good!

I am still looking forward to next week's reunion show to find out some more juicy details!

Yeah, I nixxed the Desperate Housewives season premiere to watch Rock of Love! Ha! I flipped a bit in between commercials and I know I can catch up if I decide to start watching again.

I heard, in my searchings for dirt last night, that Tommy Lee is the next Rock of Love guy. Goodness these guys get around!!

Any other watchers? Tell me your thoughts!!

I have yet to download the wedding pics from my camera. I really didn't get many, and what I did get, I'm sure they aren't very good. I don't even think I got a picture of Amy and Brian!

I did do a layout last night too, but haven't scanned it yet, but since I hate to post without pictures, here are my projects for the ILove2Create October kit featuring Friendly Plastic as the technique and American Crafts papers!