some simple cards

I signed up to be part of a birthday card swap at AC Bailey. Since the cards are due mailed by May 15th I figured I'd better get started. I haven't exactly had a ton of time for scrapbooking lately, unfortunately. That amount of time would increase exponentially if I didn't spend so much time on my blog and other scrappy places online.

So, here you go...some simple cards made from kraft cardstock and some old Fancy Pants die cuts I had, some buttons and miscellaneous flowers.

cheetos and cookies for breakfast

Yes...it is one of those days already. Not a bad day by any means, the kids are playing happily, the dishwasher is loaded and running, Aimee is contentedly looking at books while I sit down for a few minutes. It wasn't really Cheetos for breakfast but Sarah must have found one left over from last night. Not a surprise. The cookies, well, that's another story.



The poor kids and I have colds...again. At least we got a good few weeks of not being sick. At least we don't have the swine flu. At least we didn't have a horrible thunderstorm last night preventing my good night's sleep. At least Matt has a good job and I can stay home with the girls. At least we are blessed in so very many other ways. We are healthy and happy and life is good.



That's Matt and Sarah watching the "Wonder Pets" as they save the cow (from a tornado- how fitting for these parts!)

Here are a few things I heard this morning...

"If you don't give me that stuff back I will go to sleep forever."



That was Hailey...I think she's watched Snow White and Sleeping Beauty a few too many times. Wouldn't you think? This is her retort as Matt "MADE" her clean her papers and crayons off the table so we could eat breakfast. She decided this morning that she would make some hearts for Valentine's Day. Apparently she is really planning ahead. She would bring me a piece of paper one by one with a new crayon she wanted me to use to draw a heart, and I didn't mind because I got a hug each time I drew a new heart for her. She would then color it in and cut it out. She loves to draw and spends time every day doing so. I even found her up to the table early one morning, before 6 o'clock, fallen asleep with her paper and crayons around her.

"If you don't let me cut then I'll run away." Yep, this was from Sarah as she shouted from the stairs after Matt took her scissors away so that we could get ready to eat. Sarah is the sweetest little girl but when she gets upset she means business. No one is going to mess with her even if she's the smallest one around. She's a tough girl.

And I said, "Who wants to have cookies and milk for breakfast?" No, not real cookies, but I thought we all deserved some Cookie Crisp this morning since it was kind of a rough one. I was answered by Hailey with, "Well, we really have to change into something fancy." She went upstairs and changed into her best Cinderella garb complete with gloves and Princess shoes. She was ready for her royal breakfast.

It's been a fairly good day...the kids have all had baths (everyone except for me, which is pretty typical, and perhaps some of you moms can relate), we have strawberries starting to grow and our garden wasn't washed away by the rain last night.

After breakfast the girls wanted to play dress-up. I overheard from my room that I got to be the witch. "Why do I have to be the witch," I asked Hailey. "Because me and Sarah are the princesses and Daddy is the prince so you have to be the wicked witch. If you don't want to be the witch then you can't be in our play." And that was that. I hope my being chosen as the wicked witch has no reflection on my parenting skills.

All is good...now if I could just get my laundry put away and my bathrooms cleaned.



We'll see....time to check on Hailey and Sarah since it's WAY too quiet upstairs.

Have a great day!

new Webster's Pages

There is an online chat at Webster's Pages tonight with a reveal of the very cool, classy retro line "Sweet as Cherry Pie" and it is so very lovely!!

Take a look at this!!



If you'd like to join the chat click here

http://websterspages.ning.com/forum/topics/live-chat-giveaway-9pm-chat?page=3&commentId=2089723%3AComment%3A23308&x=1#2089723Comment23308

my mini album- finally

I worked and worked and worked on this little album, wanting it to look just right and now am just glad that it is done so that I can work on other design team projects that are due in a few days!! Mini albums are fun, just make sure that you gather your supplies in the beginning, especially making sure that you have enough paper for the whole book. This was a biggie, so it took lots of paper. Also, make sure that you do things in steps. First I cut the paper and added it to the pages, then did the black doodling around the edges, added some glitter and sanded the edges of all of the pictures. It makes assembly go alot quicker.

For this album I used the new Bo Bunny chipboard book with the different edges (love them!!) and new Pink Paislee Winsome brads, chipboard and papers, some Maya Road pins and flowers and other odds and ends lace, pearls and glitter and some handmade flowers. Most of those items came from the My Scrapbook Nook limited edition kit.

I have yet to be able to find some binder rings at the store so I'll show you the individual pages and later show a pic of the book put together :)

And so, there it is. I hope it has been worth the wait. You should be able to click on the individual pictures to get a closer look if you're interested.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

pretty flowers

With all of the beautiful weather lately we've been spending a lot of time outdoors, from planting flowers and trees and going to the park to planting strawberries (yum!) and getting ready to plant our vegetable garden.

a quick page

I don't know where my creativity has been hiding lately but it hasn't been here at my house. I've tried working on a couple page ideas and nothing has really come together for me. I think part of the problem is we've been so busy and I've been so tired but I did get this one page done. It's a simple page about Aimee and her silly ways. We've been teaching her about the sounds that different animals make and for a while she would tell us what sound a particular animal made when we'd ask and now she just laughs and says "moo" for everything. Silly little girl. I love that her sense of humor is starting to come out.

For this page I used Pink Paislee Winsome Enchanting paper, American Crafts Thickers and ribbon, some Making Memories buttons and Paper Studio lace trim.

taking time for each other

It seems that in this fast-paced world it is easy to get caught up in the everyday have-to-do things, so much that sometimes we don't take time for those things that are really important, namely our families. Every year we take at least one family vacation together and spend that time doing fun things, activities where we can strengthen family ties and create lasting memories. I know that probably sounds incredibly cheesy but it's so vitally important, important for my kids to spend time with me and Matt and time for us to spend with each other without the distractions we have on a day to day basis.

The journaling on this layout is about that very thing, and the pictures are some that I took at Ruby Beach in Washington state last summer when we went to visit my parents. The supplies are from the April kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring the new Winsome Captivating line by Pink Paislee.

For this page I used just the outer edge of the scalloped circle paper and then used strips of another sheet in the collection to make the ruffle. It took 5 strips approximately 1 inch by 12 inches to make it all the way around, just in case anyone was wondering. I used Glossy Accents, commonly for making your own epoxy-type embellishments but I used it to adhere the rickrack to the edge of the paper since it's so quick drying and permanent.

I apologize for the funky layout picture. I don't know if it was because of wierd lighting when I took the picture or if it's just because of the shading in the paper itself. Perhaps I'll take a new picture tomorrow and see if I can get this any better.

Have a great night!

covered in Primrose

Yes, I wish I'd taken a picture of Hailey covered from head to toe in Primrose. What? I am sure you are wondering what I'm talking about. This afternoon while the baby was taking a nap I put on a movie for the other girls and because I was tired I laid down on the couch and actually fell asleep. Big mistake. Huge.

I went to look for Hailey since I couldn't hear or see her anywhere. Most parents know that's a bad sign and this time, it sure was. I found Hailey in the bathroom and it stopped me in my tracks. I didn't even know what to say and almost swore, even though I am not a swearing person. Oh my he.. You know what I mean, but I said heck instead because I don't want my 4 year old swearing. We'll probably have to deal with that later but today I had enough things to worry about.

She was covered from head to toe (literally) on the front side of her body and all over her arms with Primrose Crayola marker. This is a dark pinkish purple and I freaked. The girls have gymnastics class on Wednesday evening and tomorrow is preschool. I immediately got her in the tub and that water quickly turned to pink. I scrubbed and scrubbed and still couldn't get it off. She had it all over her face, even on her forehead and by her eyes. I wasn't sure how I would get it off or if she'd be able to go anywhere looking the way she did. What a mess. My kids have colored on themselves with marker before but nothing like this. I should have taken a picture.
Do you see the color of the marker at the top of the box where it says, "Broad Line"? That is Primrose, and that was the color of Hailey this afternoon. Seriously. All over her.

After calling Matt at work right after the incident so that I could freak out about it to him I searched for advice on how to remove the ink. You'd think the Crayola website would have tips on how to remove the purple color, and they do have tons of suggestions on stain removal as long as the stain is on your wall, your furniture, anywhere besides on your kid. Perhaps they should revamp that stain removal list. I tried lots of different things to no avail, and finally found that dish soap does the trick, at least to help lighten the color a shade or two. Now she is lemony fresh and is at least presentable enough to go to her class and to preschool tomorrow.

We were sitting at the table after gymnastics tonight and I asked Hailey why she did that and she told me that maybe she just wanted to be Pocahontas. I told her that Pocahontas wasn't purple, though, and she simply told me, "Well, we didn't have a brown."

So, there you go. She wanted to be Pocahontas. Needless to say she won't be using markers for quite a while. At least not until after the purple wears off.

some pics of my cute girls

It was quite a busy day, but a beautiful one as well. We spent lots of time outside adn I got some cute pics of the kids that I'll share with you. I also finished my mini album. Hooray!! And, I've already started on a new layout. For tonight, though, I will share these...

This is the front cover of the mini album I've been working on featuring Bo Bunny, Pink Paislee and Maya Road. I'll share some more pics tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of the girls outside today. We could not resist with the weather as beautiful as it was. Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? I was playing with some of the other modes, so these aren't fabulous, but the girls are still adorable.


And, lastly, a sign of spring. This is also a sign of longevity, of perseverence and hardiness. We bought some trees a couple of months ago with every intention of planting them right away...then Matt injured his foot, and we got sick and we went out of town and it snowed and we had thunderstorms and...you name it. These trees have seen lots of harsh conditions since that day we purchased them and they made it through. I was so worried that the trees had died, that we'd wasted the money spent and that we'd have to get something else to replace them until I saw these little green leaves. The trees will be beautiful in the spring of next year when all of the pink and white flowers are blooming.

As Sarah likes to say, "Have a wonderful day!"

poor baby girl and a pint-sized cake decorator

It has been one crazy Monday, not that there was anything TOO out of the ordinary going on at our house, just lots of the normal craziness that we are used to around here.

I am tired so I'll make this a quick post tonight but had to share the sad, sad tale of my poor little baby girl. Not so little, though, since she turned 18 months old today, and yes, we celebrated. This little girl was such a miracle baby that we celebrate every day. How I love that sweet girl, I absolutely adore her, so seeing her get hurt today was so very sad. I don't even know how she did it but one minute she looked like this:



and the next she'd somehow bumped her mouth on the floor and split open her lip and she looked like this:



Poor, sweet little baby girl. It made me so sad. She sometimes throws herself onto the floor when she gets upset and this time she must have forgotten where she was and really hit hard on the ceramic tile floor. Ouch!! I think this was her first real accident, which is incredible considering how rough her sisters are with her sometimes. She didn't want to let me hold a cold cloth on her little mouth so I remedied that and tried to help her feel better by giving her popsicles and got two things accomplished that way. Her upper lip was so puffy she didn't even look like herself. By dinner time the swelling had started to go down...thank goodness since she has her 18 month check-up tomorrow. I'd hate to have her look like someone had beaten her up. Poor baby.

And now for something fun!! Hailey and Sarah were playing with their Play-Doh while I did some things around the house and I walked in to see this little delicacy: It was quite intricate and detailed for a four year old. Perhaps she has a future in cake decorating? I think she has a pretty good start!

Have a great night :)

i just found the coolest blog!

I am a stay at home mom and love it when I find helpful hints from other SAHM. I was looking at an old college roommate's blog and found this link for a blog with some of the best articles and tips. I even found a toddler chore chart there- how cool is that??!! I've already printed it out to use with two of my girls and know it will be perfect.

You can check out all of the great tips here at http://simplemom.net/

some little peeks

This weekend was so busy that I didn't get to do as much scrapbooking as I would have liked but I did get to work on my mini album a little bit more. I added some detailing to each of the pages, started adding pictures and worked on the cover page. I hope to have it completely finished by the end of this week. Here are a few little peeks.

a quick page

I haven't been able to scrap for a few days so I am sorely lacking in new material to post here but do have a layout that I haven't shown here yet.

So, here you go! It's not one of my favorites but it's something new and something with a picture of me and Matt instead of the girls. And, I used the lovely March kit from My Scrapbook Nook.

i am going to scrap today

Yes, one way or another I am going to get some time to work in my scrap room. It's been a few days and I am seriously itching to be creative, to finish that mini album I teased you with earlier in the week, to use some of the scrap supplies that are piling up on my table.

So, just you wait...I'll have something fabulous to share with you.

where dark meets the light

The forecast says we're supposed to get heavy thunderstorms tonight...just part of the daily grind here during Spring in west Texas. It's old hat, something I surely don't LOVE about living here but something I am used to. I don't like the thunderstorms because with them is always the threat of impending tornadoes. Hopefully we won't have to worry about those tonight.

I took this picture standing on my front porch looking slightly northwest. I love that you can see the beautiful day we had enjoyed just moments before when the kids were swinging in the backyard contrasted with the rain that started just after this picture was taken.

Now it is raining steadily, something we surely need in these dry parts, something those cotton farmers will be grateful for today.

I hope that you are having a good day wherever you might be.

stop and smell the daisies

I have such a sweet husband. I really do. I am sure that there are times when I've taken that for granted but I really do appreciate him and his thoughtful little gestures.

Today he surprised me with a bouquet of yellow daisies when he got home from work. You do know that daisies are the friendliest flower, right? At least according to Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail." I will have to agree. And, I couldn't let these beautiful flowers go to waste...I went right to work (ha ha- not work at all)taking some pictures. When Sarah came over to see the flowers I took advantage of that opportunity as well and got some cute shots of her.

Cute pics, huh? If you want to see them again just check back in a week or so and I'm sure I'll have them on a scrapbook page by then :)

grateful for legs and feet

My husband and I watched a show on TLC last night called, "Mermaid Girl," which was about a little girl named Shiloh who was born with sirenomelia, or "Mermaid Syndrome." The condition is rare and most of the children who survive typically have their legs separated at birth or shortly thereafter but due to Shiloh's many other medical conditions and decisions made by the family, she has continued to grow and function with her legs fused.

It was a sad show to watch, but inspirational at the same time, and quite timely because we have been struggling with the fact that our Aimee is still not walking on her own and she's almost 18 months old. She is progressing, and she DID crawl late, and we think that she is just being cautious and will figure it out eventually. She can walk if she holds onto something, can even push the kids' little shopping cart without help. I am sure she'll be fine...watching it kind of put things into perspective with Aimee.

Aimee woke up late last night while we were watching this show and I sat there just thankful that she has "normal" legs and feet, that she CAN walk with help and will probably walk on her own in the near future. And, she's darn cute, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!