sorry it's been so slow around here

I haven't been a very good blogger this week.

sorry.

Life is busy but I don't really feel like I am doing/accomplishing that much but I am tired. Every day I am just exhausted and I blame it on the fact that I still don't feel completely well from being sick starting around the middle of September. This seems to come and go and today I am so tired and not feeling well. I have a headache, a sore throat and I'm dead tired.

And, now Aimee is sick, too, with a low fever, runny nose and nasty diarrhea. Yep. Four times already today. And I've changed 3 of them. Thankfully Matt is off today and I got to take a 2 hour nap this morning.

After lunch I am heading up to my craft room to work on some projects- a card class for My Scrapbook Nook and a technique class for Color Me Daisy, and I also hope to play with my kits from both places a little more today and have some fun things to show you in the coming week.

Have a wonderful weekend, stay warm, stay healthy and give your family members a big hug!

p.s. I took Aimee in to the clinic this afternoon...103.4 fever and not eating or sleeping much, fussy. They did a swab of her nose to check for H1N1 that came back negative. But, I'm up with her again because the fever is back. yeah. I'm not feeling well, either, and would rather be sleeping...

What we do for our kids, huh?

oh, and change that 4 bouts of diarrhea to 6.

Fun times.

projects using November kit from My Scrapbook Nook

Good morning! I hope you all had a better night's sleep than I did! Add my husband's tendency toward restless leg syndrome and the large hot chocolate Matt brought me from Starbuck's last night and I didn't get to sleep until after two o'clock. Not a fun night. Then, Matt turned off his alarm and we all overslept. We still made it where we needed to go- on time, even- and all will be well. It seems we've been running from place to place the last couple of days and I just need some time to catch up and get some rest. We'll see if that happens today :)

First off, I thought I'd share with you a couple of pages I've made so far with the November kit from My Scrapbook Nook. The jewel tones of the Lily Bee Audrey papers are so pretty, I knew they'd go well with some pictures I had yet to scrap from our trip to Disneyland last Spring.

I've found a new love with those little alpha stickers from October Afternoon! They will be great for titles, on cards, journaling, etc. The flower on the upper right by the journal spot is one that I cut out of some of the patterned paper and then I took apart one of the little Prima flowers and used the metal center for the cut out paper flower. It's a simple page, one that didn't take too long to make. I used my Fiskars Apron Lace border punch for the left edge.

And, lastly for now, is this page with pictures of Hailey from a few weeks ago. I love that the package of Lily Bee tulle flowers included a couple of pink ones so that I could use them on this page. The page is a little experiment (that I hope worked out okay). I used my Stampin' Up! white craft ink pad there on the left side of the page to give place for the big Lily Bee rub-on and some journaling. The patterns are pretty but very large and busy and something I am still trying to figure out. I think this sheet with the black flowers is one of my favorites from the set.

I hope you all have a great day. Thank you for stopping by!

I'm not convinced it's barley

I had to take Aimee in to the allergy doctor this morning.

She's been breaking out in hives every so often about a half hour after she eats so we think she has a food allergy. Last week she broke out on three different days. I know I'm not imagining things.

Anyway, I expected to go there today, have the skin prick tests done and that they would tell me exactly what food Aimee was allergic to.

Instead, we sat there forever and then waited some more, they did the skin test and the only thing they could come up with is barley. Like I've said other places, I don't think it's barley. We'd have to be eating a heck of a lot of whole grain foods for it to be barley and I just don't think so.

We have to keep a detailed food diary over the next two weeks and try to figure out what the problem is, clipping labels along the way if she has a reaction. If they still can't figure it out they can do blood work or just call it idiopathic urticaria, a condition where the person breaks out in hives for no apparent reason, typically caused by an autoimmune disorder. Great. And then they'd have to figure that out.

I need some serious quiet alone time  my brain is just tired today.

November kit from Color Me Daisy

I just got my kit today and it's very cute, so I thought I'd share a few pictures with you!

Stay tuned and I'll have some fun projects to share with you in the next few days!

three pretty princesses

We had our Halloween party at the church last night and had a wonderful time.

It's too bad that Matt had to work this weekend because we surely missed having him there but we still enjoyed the chili and other fixings, the carnival games and trunk or treat. I think that my favorite part was helping the girls get ready...painting fingernails pink, curling their hair so that it was all pretty and helping them into their costumes. They really are pretty girls and it's so fun to do girly things with them.

And there they are...my cute girls.

Friday Faves at Lily Bee- I missed it!

I just got an email last night from my friend, Phoebe, who was on the team with me at AC Bailey. She's a sweetheart and asked me if I'd seen my layout on the Lily Bee blog earlier this month, which I hadn't. So, here's the page that was shown there on the 2nd of October. I'd created this layout for a challenge during the Scrap-Off at My Scrapbook Nook earlier this year. We had to create a page where we shared some kind of emotion, the focus had to be journaling but could be on any topic we chose. Some of you might remember this page where I talked about our struggles with infertility and how blessed we felt to have our three beautiful girls.

You can check it out here http://lilybeedesign.blogspot.com/2009/10/friday-faves-102.html

I have been playing with my November kit from My Scrapbook Nook and will have some things to share with you soon!

the birthday girl and a new layout

I was hoping to get these up yesterday but life (preschool group, kids, all important things) got in the way as it sometimes does and last night I was just not feeling well. I went to my activity at the church and left about a half hour into it because my head was pounding and I had lots of sinus pressure and some dizziness. I can't wait until the day that I don't feel sick at all anymore. It's been more than a month and whatever the bug is has sure taken its own sweet time to go away.

So, here is a picture of Aimee from her birthday, getting ready to blow out her two little candles. Matt ended up having to help her because she was blowing so softly and the wax was quickly melting onto the pink cupcakes she wanted to have so badly. Cute girl. She positively glowed as we were singing "happy birthday" to her, even sang along to the Portugese added to our lovely rendition. (sidenote: Matt's dad went on a church mission to Brazil and their family used to always sing the English and Portugese and we've carried on the tradition, ha ha)

Anyway, the picture isn't that great but I am still working with AV mode in low light and don't quite have it mastered. I really don't like to have to use the flash because the pictures look so much better (well, maybe not in this case).

I've been working on this layout for a few days, finding a few minutes here and there to sit down and work on it and finally completed it yesterday. One of the things that I love most about scrapbooking is being able to combine different patterns by various manufacturers. There's been a bit of discussion about this at My Scrapbook Nook lately and for some it's an easy task and for others it's quite a challenge, a challenge that I happen to enjoy. Sure, it's nice to use one collection on a page, it makes things quick and easy and you know the colors will match but I also like to dig through my stash and mix and match things and end up loving the result. For this page I combined some Jenni Bowlin, Pink Paislee, October Afternoon- 2 different lines, and some American Crafts. I hand cut the butterflies and the flowers at the top from some AC paper and the pearls are by KaiserCraft and Queen and Co.

And here are a few detail shots just for fun.

I don't know if I'll get any scrappy time today, lots of clothes folding to catch up on, but hopefully I can sneak in a few minutes to make some cards or something.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by to visit!

a new blinkie to add to my blog

Yes, that scrappy news that I was waiting for yesterday turned out to be good news!

I checked my email this morning and found I had an email from Michelle, owner of Color Me Daisy. It's a site I found recently through Scrapbook Calls and Contests because they were holding a design team call and I ventured over, found the people to be nice and the kits cute, and long story short- I made the team.

Now, some may wonder why in the world I would want to be on two teams and I, myself, weighed the pros and cons of keeping up with things at My Scrapbook Nook and taking on another place. One of the pros of Color Me Daisy is that the team members receive a kit every other month instead of every month and forum participation requirements are a little different, so it's been quite do-able over the last few weeks.

I am so very excited about being a Daisy Girl and getting more FREE scrappy stuff in the mail, getting to make more scrapbooking friends and sharing my love of scrapping with others.

So, here is my new blinkie:

Here are the new Daisy Girls  for Color Me Daisy:

Returning Daisy Girls:

Mara Campbell - Design Team Coordinator & Senior Design Team Member

Senior Design Team Members:

Melina Borrero
Gina Johnson
Aimee Kidd

Sketch Artist

Julie Bonner (52 Sketches 52 Weeks)

And our newest Daisy Girls:

Vanessa Buzard (VanessaB)
Jennifer French (jennifermarie93)
Rebecca Keppel (rebeccak)
Virginia Tillery (virginiatillery)
Becky Williams (beckyjune) **ME!!!!
Jodi Wilton (luvalotmum)

I can't wait to work with these ladies and the fun kits from Color Me Daisy.

if only I'm waiting

Matt used to sing me this cheesy song whenever he thought I was taking too long with something.

This time, however, I am doing the waiting.

...waiting and hoping for some good scrappy news. We're supposed to know today or maybe it's tomorrow. I don't know how they're doing it but everyone is supposed to know by tomorrow.

Let's hope that no news is still good news and that they're still working to narrow things down.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed but trying to not get my hopes up because I just end up getting disappointed.

Do you know what I mean?

I have tried for so many teams in the past and have only been on 3. One at a time over the last oh, maybe 5 years. I don't try for that many teams so I get a little nervous come decision time.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

happy birthday to sweet Aimee

Yes, it's hard to believe but little Aimee is two years old today. I can still remember that day when she was born. I was scheduled to have a c-section in a couple days because of medical complications that prevented me from having a "normal" delivery. Instead of that, though, I started going into labor, something that would cause major issues with mine and Aimee's health and so I went to the hospital and they decided to go ahead and do the c-section that afternoon. What a relief it was to finally see her because of all we'd been through with  my pregnancy, and what a little light she is in our family. I love that sweet girl.

It's so fun to watch her learning and hear her talk nonstop, hear her sing sweet songs and watch her run after her taking so long to learn how to walk.

I have to make a quick post right now since we're getting ready to take Hailey to school and Aimee has a doctor appointment but I'll add more pictures here later.

Happy birthday sweet girl.

fall fun at the pumpkin patch

We are lucky enough to live close to one of those big corn mazes and had the chance to visit as a family on Friday night. What a beautiful night it was, too.

Not only do they have a corn maze but they have a little cow train ride, hay bale maze, lots of photo taking spots, a hayride to the pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkins and other fun things.

Here are some pictures from our time spent there:

Yeah,we got a chance to take some pictures while the kids went on a train ride in the corn field.

moo!

Aren't these outhouses the best?

Matt and Hailey shooting the corn cannon

Aimee in the hay bale maze

Sarah found what she thought was the perfect pumpkin- about 20 times.

Aimee was so proud of her little pumpkins!

We sure got lots of pictures of Hailey, didn't we?

I guess we have to make up for all of the Sarah and Aimee pictures posted lately.

I try to give each child equal face time :)

And a lovely sunset to end our day.

pretty flowers

I have lots of pictures to post from our trip to the pumpkin patch on Friday night but think I'll save those for tomorrow. For now I'll just share with you a picture of my pretty sunflowers that my husband brought home for me the other day.

Wasn't that sweet? This picture is pretty much straight from my camera except for a little sharpening in Photoshop. They are prettier in real life but this picture will last longer than the flowers will, unfortunately.

Sunflowers surely are some of the the most beautiful, happy flowers.

p.s. Remember how I said this picture would last longer than the flowers? Well, I just walked into my kitchen to see that all of the petals had been taken off- and hidden under a wash rag. I'll give you one guess as to who did it...

more projects with the Nook October Kit* Graphic 45

I just found out that our November kit is being shipped this week so I thought I'd crank out a few more projects with the October kit from My Scrapbook Nook before starting with next month's kit.

While it's been slow to develop I have come to love the colors and patterns of these Domestic Goddess papers from Graphic 45. They really are beautiful and fun to work with...it was me that was the problem. It just took a bit to get into my groove, I tell ya. I think we all go through times like that, though, so no worries!

First off is a card that I created using the kit and some black trim from my stash, a Martha Stewart flower punch and a black paper frill from Doodlebug. Don't you just love those letters?

Next is a layout I made with some fun pictures of Hailey and some of our fall decorations. I just loved this little pumpkin that I found on sale at Joann's and knew it would be the perfect prop for fall photos to go with this kit. She's truly a sweetheart and I am grateful for her as I am for my husband and two other daughters.

I made this little flower by stitching along the side of a piece of lace and then bringing the edges together. It's really quite fun and easy to do. The Basic Grey chipboard letters, Making Memories tiny alpha stickers and Jillibean Soup journal spot were from my own personal stash but the rest is from the kit.

The last thing I'll share with you is this layout with pictures of Hailey in her first race during the fall harvest festival in our little west Texas town. She was so very excited, but while surely not the fastest runner she was determined to run until she got to the finish line and we were all there cheering her on. I was such a proud mom that day!

Thank you for stopping by my little blog this Sunday afternoon. I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend with your family and/or friends. I am.

November kit from My Scrapbook Nook

Just a quick picture to show you of our November kit at My Scrapbook Nook.

This kit features the Audrey collection from Lily Bee.

Isn't it pretty?

making some changes

Yes, it's time to spruce things up here...

There may be some changes over the next few days while I work to get this the way I want it.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

I like this background but am not too crazy about how the polka dots make it hard to read the text.

Anyone know how to manipulate that so I can make that part lighter?

Ok, different background now...apparently this was made for a 3-column blog.

Back to the drawing board :)

missing friends

I have lived in this town two and a half years. I don't know why it's been so hard for me to be here.

We moved down to Texas to be close to my husband's family because his dad was really sick. It has been wonderful for us to be here, to have family close, to be able to share special times with them.

But, even now, I miss my friends from Boise.

I'm not trying to whine or complain. This move was hard for me, though, and while I know people here I don't have anyone that I hang out with. It's kinda sad for me right now. I know that I get busy in my own little world with my husband and kids, with scrapbooking or whatever else I might be doing at the time and that a lot of my loneliness is my own darn fault.

Ok. Pity party over.

Sorry.

Kit special deal at My Scrapbook Nook

Pam, the owner of My Scrapbook Nook, just posted this today:

The next 4 new kit club members will receive:

1st-Indian Summer-18 Sheets of Double Sided Papers

2nd-Eskimo Kisses-18 Sheets of Double Sided Papers

3rd-Eerie-18 Sheets of Double Sided Papers

4th-Nook & Pantry-18 Double Sided Papers

Sign up and if you're in the top 4 new members you will receive one of the above. Another way My Scrapbook Nook says thank you!



(Just in case you don't remember what the October kit looks like, there's a picture for you. It contains lots of Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess paper, Making Memories Vintage Findings, Prima flowers, Jenni Bowlin journal book, beautiful trims, buttons and more. I will soon have pictures of the November kit which features the Lily Bee Audrey collection.)

So, if you have been thinking about joining the kit club at My Scrapbook Nook, run your little fingers over to this website and join! Only the first four people will get in on the deal, so you've gotta hurry!

If you get signed up don't forget to let me know and I will get in on the deal, too, with a little Nook store credit. Happy shopping!!

check us out!

The design team ladies from My Scrapbook Nook were featured on the Graphic 45 blog today!

You can check it out here
I am so grateful to be among these very talented women.

Isn't that cool?!

ok, so that other link wasn't working. You can try the new one I put up today.

what happened to my blog?

Does it look all funky to you, too?

It's like the margins are all messed up or something.

Hailey gets to use the computer a lot at school and she's been playing at home some, too, so I wonder if she got creative with my blog?

Who knows.

I'll see if I can figure it out because right now it doesn't look so good...

silly goose

Hi!!

How's it going?

It's been a crazy week so far and I feel like while I've been busy I haven't really gotten that much done.

Do you know what I mean? Do you ever look around and wonder when you'll get everything done?

Well, yesterday I ignored all of that because I'd spent the morning running kids around to and fro and I was tired. I'm still trying to kick this flu bug or whatever it is and I was completely worn out.

So, instead I scrapbooked.

Here's a page I made about a nickname we use around our house, "silly goose." I'm not sure where it all started but we tend to use it a lot around here, and Sarah fits the bill pretty well.

For this challenge at Color Me Daisy we had to scrapbook about a nickname.  I chose "silly goose" because it's one that we use all the time, and I had these perfect pictures of Sarah from last week that I've been wanting to use.

Supplies:
Patterned paper: Chatterbox, Sassafras Lass, Pink Paislee, October Afternoon
Border Punch: Fiskars
Alphas: American Crafts, Basic Grey
Etc.: misc buttons, OA tags, Sassafras Lass flowers, Kaiser Craft blue gems, Pink Paislee and OA rub-ons, Prima bling swirl, Sassafras froggie sticker.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

pretty blue eyes and a goose egg

What a gorgeous day it turned into after the fog and drizzle lifted this morning.

The weather caused quite a bit of havoc today as traffic was backed up going to and from the school because of the dense fog.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few new pictures from today, a couple of Hailey and her beautiful blue eyes and one of Aimee and her recent injury.

Isn't she a cute girl? I think so but I am entirely biased in my opinion because she's my daughter.

Here is little Aimee with her first major injury. She pretty much refuses to sit in her booster seat now and instead insists on sitting on one of the regular chairs like the rest of the family. I am fine with this except that she likes to stand on the chair and isn't always cognizant of  how close she is to the edge of her seat. Here is a perfect example. Sunday morning before church she was at the table eating a snack since we now go to church at 12:30 (don't really love that schedule but what can you do?) and she fell off of the chair and landed on her head on the ceramic tile. It swelled up and looked quite lovely for church.

Poor girl. It didn't seem to bother her too much but the bruise is now a lovely shade of green to match the shirt she was wearing today.

Have a great rest of your day!

I won!!

Now I'm not one who wins things very often so of course I'm excited.

I entered a drawing on my friend, Leah's blog and WON!!!

 

So, I get to choose between these two things...I think I'll take the ribbon box because heaven knows I need to organize my huge supply of ribbon that I can't seem to get enough of.

The good news is that now I am one of ten finalists who have a chance to win this, and the results will be posted on October 12th. That's not too far away, huh? Yeah, I'm stoked.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?!

This could do wonders for my scrap space. Right now it looks like a tornado went through with piles of paper and magazines and completed projects and boxes and stuff everywhere...it's no wonder I keep the door locked.

p.s. ok, so I didn't win the BIG prize but that's okay. I still won that cute ribbon organizer. Congrats to all of the other winners, too!!

what I love about fall

Fall is certainly here in west Texas. We've gone from summer to winter lately, though, as the temperatures have dropped from mid 80's to mid-40's during the day. I enjoy the cold more than the heat but am eagerly waiting for the temperatures to go back up a little bit!!

I created this layout using the October kit from Color Me Daisy. You can check them out here

This kit features papers and embellishments from Crate Paper and Sassafras Lass and are so perfect for scrapping fall pics. I used a collage of pics from our activities last year to show what I enjoy about this season. Journaling reads:  I love cozy sweaters, cute girls in costumes, changing colors of the leaves, hayrides, carving pumpkins, apple cider, fluffy cotton, fall festival and hot air balloons, being with family.

And, don't you love that picture of Matt with the pumpkin?! He's the best and always good for a laugh. Sometimes I don't laugh enough at his jokes but I do appreciate that he's always trying to keep things light and fun.

Here is a picture of my finished mini album, too. I kept it pretty simple by using the journaling blocks from the Pink Paislee Amber Road collection (September kit from My Scrapbook Nook), cut them down to size to fit the pages of the Maya Road postage stamp mini, inked the edges and added some doodling and called it good. There is a page inside for each member of my family to share what they are thankful for this year as well as a page for a current picture of us this Thanksgiving. Sometimes simple is the way to go!

Have a wonderful Sunday!