another Jillibean Soup page today

Good morning!

How about a Jillibean Soup page today?

I am loving their new releases so much this time and think it's the best yet.

Apple Cheddar Soup and Sweet & Sour Soup have been my faves so far but I am sure that when I start using the others more I'll love them just as much.

Here's a page that is up on the Jillibean blog today that mixes up some Apple Cheddar, Sweet & Sour, Watermelon Gazpacho and Homemade 6 Bean Soup:

This is Hailey (7) and Aimee (almost 4). They get along amazingly well and Hailey very often takes on kind of a 'mom' role with her, helping her with different things. I think it's so cute and it makes these pictures all the more sweet to me. I hope they'll always get along so well.

I enjoy layering the different elements- here some circles cut from the Sweet and Sour paper layered on top of corrugated shapes and die-cut flowers.

Have a happy, scrappy day!

a card on Monday for you

I just wanted to share a card with you quickly this morning before I head up to wake up the girls to get ready for school.

I made this for Jillibean Soup using the cute new Sweet & Sour Soup collection:

You can see more cute cards on the Jillibean Soup blog today:

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/

Have a great day!

hello Friday!

I am so glad that Friday is here!

How  about you?

What do you have planned for the weekend?

The girls have soccer games on Saturday morning and then I plan/hope to do a whole lot of nothing!

That sounds so good to me with all of the business and running around lately.

Today I have a new scrapbook page to share created with the lovely September kit from My Scrapbook Nook:

This is about our sweet Lily and her unexpected early arrival. While it was difficult at times we are so grateful for the extra time we've gotten to spend with her. 

I really like that black and white chevron striped paper with that cute Crate Paper brad!

Have a nice weekend!

the apple of my eye *Jillibean Soup layout share

Good morning!

I know that there has been much talk of apples here lately.

I have one last batch of apple butter in the crockpot right now and the house smells yummy.

It's the last of the apples that we picked when we went to the orchard a few weeks ago.

My husband used to talk about apple butter made by his grandma and before recently I didn't get the appeal but now- I am so hooked. It's even taken the place of Nutella lately, and that's a pretty big deal.

I love apples- apple butter, apple pie, apple crisp warm with vanilla ice cream and yummy apple cider on a cool fall day.

You may have heard the saying, "she's the apple of my eye."

While I'm not quite sure how that saying came to be I have a few of those, including this cute little girlie:

This cute little girl is almost 5 months old and I can't hardly believe it!

She is laughing and smiling and "talking" so much, loves her sisters and can't get enough of Mommy and Daddy. She's a great sleeper (she sleeps all night already- yes, I'm spoiled) and loves to play. She things applesauce and pears and peaches and peas and carrots and squash are yummy but don't you dare try to feed her green beans. She makes the funniest face when you try to feed her those and no matter how many spoonsful I give her she just spits it all right back out. 

She's such a sweetheart and I completely adore her. 

For this page I used the new Apple Cheddar Soup collection from Jillibean Soup. I mixed in some Homemade 6 Bean Soup (the red starry paper border) and even some Dutch Mustard Soup. I threw in some corrugated shapes, to. Did you know that now there are full 12x12 corrugated sheets so that you can cut your own shapes? I can't wait to try out my Sizzix Big Shot on those!

I hope that you have a wonderful day! 

You can see more Jillibean Soup cuteness from the design team here:

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/

a fun little Jillibean Soup project for today

In case you hadn't heard, I have been up to my elbows in apples lately.

We picked two huge buckets full at a local orchard and then the task went to me to do something with them.

I made two batches of apple butter and a batch of applesauce and boy was it yummy!

All of the time spent peeling teeny, tiny apples that the girls picked was well worth it.

I thought it would be fun to decorate some of the jars and the new Apple Cheddar Soup collection from Jillibean Soup was perfect for this!

Just take a look:

I just love the warm, rich colors of fall- this collection is fun because it also has a pop of blue that I really like. 

Today I am working on canning tomatoes. 

It's going to be another fun day!

a peek at what's coming

Good morning and happy Monday to you!

I hope that you had a great weekend.

Here's one of the cards that I created for the American Crafts blog back in July that I haven't shared here yet.

And another that I also made for American Crafts:

And a peek at some things I have coming up this month for Jillibean Soup:

Have a great day!

thankful for rain

I apologize for not keeping up here the last couple of days- I've been making apple butter and applesauce and going to kids' this and that. Right now, though, I am listening to the RAIN! Yes, you read that right!

We have been in a drought here for SO long but the last few days we have gotten some rain.

We have been praying for rain for a long time- it's been  horribly hot here with hardly any rain since last year. Some farmers haven't planted cotton this year because there just isn't enough water. Lakes are drying up and the animals and fish are suffering.

While I listen to water leak in our front window I am still so grateful for rain and that God does hear our prayers.

Woohoo for the new Bella Blvd Design Team!

Good morning!

I thought I'd share a fun bit of news with y'all today!

Please meet the brand new, first-ever Bella Blvd design team:

Congratulations to the new team and guest designers! 

I am so excited to get started. 

Here's one of my recent Bella Blvd. creations:

And a few little close-ups:

Have a wonderful day!

September kit from My Scrapbook Nook

Hi there!

Just a quick post sharing a page that I made using the new September kit from My Scrapbook Nook featuring the gorgeous new Random collection from Crate Paper.

You can order your kit here:

http://myscrapbooknook.org/kit-club/

Pebbles Fresh Goods

Good morning!

Did you survive the weekend?

I hope that it was a good one for you.

 Here is a page that I created using the new "Fresh Goods" line from Pebbles, Inc. It was one of my very favorite releases from this past CHA:

Have a wonderful day!

I remember 9/11

Do you?

I still know exactly where I was, what I was doing and how I still tear up when I think about that day.

I created this layout back in April for Jillibean Soup:

I will always remember. God please bless America. 

a couple of quick cards

Hello!

Can I say how excited we were about the rain this morning?!

It's been a whirlwind day but a fun one, too.

We're off to a gymnastics meet later and I am so excited!!! The girls love it and I get to live through them since I never got to take classes as a kid.

Here are a couple of quick cards for today using a little of the new American Crafts:

(the little herringbone strip is from one of the inserts from a past Studio Calico kit)

it's Friday!

What a week it has been! It seems we are hardly ever at home anymore, always running here and there for something. I am always happy when the weekend gets here and we can stay put a bit more.

Last Friday I got to go to a crop at our local store and happily had 4 mostly-finished layouts and 2 cards when I walked out the door about 5 hours later. Here are a couple of them:

Amy Tangerine collection with a few accents from the AC Daydreams collection.

(mix of KI Memories paper, October Afternoon rub-ons, washi tape from a SC kit, Sassafras and OA stickers. Yeah, I went a little crazy with the rub-ons. 

And because you're all so nice to visit my little blog, here's one more that I made a week or so ago that I'd forgotten to share here: 

Crate Paper Neighborhood collection

Have a fantastic weekend! We're off to birthday parties, soccer games and hopefully a bit of the gymnastics meet at the girls' gym on Saturday. Should be a fun one! 

super quick post this morning

Good morning!

It's another busy one with chauferring kids around, church meeting, speech therapy, soccer practice, etc. so I am going to make this super quick!

Here's one of the pages that I made at the crop at my local scrap store this past Friday. It was fun but bittersweet knowing that they're closing at the end of the month.

This is our cute Aimee, almost 4 years old. She can be the sweetest thing and then at the flip of a switch she can be the biggest screamy grump! She's a cutie for sure and we love her a ton. 

For this page I used lots of the new Sweet & Sour collection from Jillibean Soup. I just love the cardstock sticker sheets with the alphas, journal spots and other accents. 

I used a KI Memories calendar page, Jillibean Soup Sweet & Sour Soup collection, American Crafts buttons and Thickers as well as some rub-ons from October Afternoon. 

Have a fantastic day!

have you seen the September Nook kit?

In case you haven't seen pictures of the September kit from My Scrapbook Nook here you go- it is gorgeous and is sure to sell out so very quickly!

This kit features papers and embellishments from the beautiful "Random" collection from Crate Paper, pins and ribbon from Maya Road, Thickers from American Crafts and more.

You can buy your kit here:

http://myscrapbooknook.org/kit-club/

in case you wonder where I am...

Just in case you wonder where I've disappeared to, this picture might give you a clue:

(we had two of these buckets, filled to the top- the girls had so much fun picking apples)

We went to the orchard on Monday and now I have all of these apples to do something with before they rot in the bag. It's been a crazy busy week as always, even without the rush of school and soccer and other things on Monday. I kinda wish I could have that day back because I don't know if I will get everything done this week without that day.

(yes, my husband just about always makes some kind of silly face for pictures)

I will hopefully find some time to scrap this week- I got lots of cute pics at the orchard and at the park later that same day and I DO have some projects from the crop I went to last Friday night.

Have a wonderful day!

thankful for you

It's Labor Day!

The kids are off from school and my husband doesn't have to work until tonight so we have some time to play.

It seems that everyday is so busy with running here and there so today it will be nice to have some time to spend together without the regular craziness.

This morning we are headed to the apple orchard in nearby Idalou. It's fun for the kids; I hope that the apples are in better shape than they were the last time we went- they don't spray for bugs so most of the apples had worms. It's still fun and I hope to get lots of new pics to scrap!

Here's a quick card that I made for Jillibean Soup. You will find this and lots more cute cards from other team members on the Jillibean blog today: http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/

Fall is coming (I LOVED the cooler weather here yesterday and even wore a sweater to church!) and I am in the mood for the warm tones of autumn. This Apple Cheddar Soup collection from Jillibean Soup is so cute and so fun to scrap with. I sat down the other night and made two more cards from this collection. I like the fall colors with the pops of this cute blue. I even used my Big Shot and an apple embossing template- so fun! 

Have a wonderful day! I'll be back with some more projects from the crop I went to on Friday night. 

sharing your kids' art on a page

I don't know if anyone else has this problem but my girls are so into drawing and coloring that their art is taking over my kitchen. It is spilling out of the big cupboard where we store their art supplies and is piled up on the counter by the sink. I have been trying to find a solution other than just taking all of it and chucking it into the garbage can.

Often times I'll pull a few favorites out of the pile to save and the girls obviously have their favorites as well (every single paper they've ever touched with a crayon, marker or paint).

One friend suggest that we take pictures of the girls holding their favorites and then throw the papers away. You could then make a collage with these images and put them on a layout or in a binder or something.

I like that idea.

One day Aimee was coloring up a storm as she is apt to do these days so I asked her if she'd make me a couple of small drawings as I had a scrapbook page in mind:

Aren't those the sweetest? She's just recently REALLY taken a liking to drawing and coloring. So much, in fact, that it's what she wants to do all day, every day and we very often have to clean up the piles of paper and crayons strewn about on the kitchen floor, the carpet in our den and the floor by the front door. 

Papers, etc. from a recent Studio Calico kit (March?) that I loved. Papers from Sassafras, Crate Paper, (the small butterflies were punched from one of the little ad inserts you always get with your kit), alphas from American Crafts and Sassafras and twine from the Twinery. 

Have a great day!

a few of my favorite things

Last night I had a few minutes after the kids got settled in bed so I put together a page using some of my current favorite scrappy things:
-Amy Tangerine collection from American Crafts
-Sweet & Sour Soup from Jillibean Soup
-aqua and white (paper from Canvas Corp)
-twine and staples
-heart paper from the new Bella Blvd Christmas collection
-woodgrain(Crate Paper) and grid papers (Pebbles Inc.)
-chevron stripes (Amy Tan)
-border punches (EK Success and Martha Stewart)
-journal spots (Jillibean Soup Sweet & Sour collection)
-Fresh Goods collection from Pebbles Inc.
-Thickers (of course, right?- from American Crafts)
-stripes (yellow and white from Crate Paper)
-the cute new Daydreams collection from American Crafts

It's quite a mix of stuff but hopefully you like it. I do. I ♥ that Canvas Corp aqua/white polka dot paper!

and a few detail shots: 

Have a great weekend! 

Do you have big plans? 

I am going to a crop at my local scrap store tonight and sometime this long weekend we're going to go to the apple orchard. I can't wait to go and pick some juicy apples and get some new pictures of the family.