oh wow.

I just got my package of the new Jillibean Soup releases to start on CHA work and all I can say is wow.

I need to finish up some chores and then I am scrapping my little heart out.

You will ♥love♥ it all.

love it.

a peek at what I've been up to

Besides running the kids to and from swimming lessons and gymnastics and doing the other everyday things that have to be done I've been doing a little work around the house.

We'd been wanting to paint the kids' bathroom and had a cute polka dotted shower curtain that we wanted to use and were trying to find the perfect shade to go with it. I found a nice blue and decided that now was as good a time as any since we  have family coming into town. Here's a look at what it looks like now.

We have a Jack and Jill bathroom so there's a vanity area on each side with a sink/mirror and then a room in the middle with the toilet and shower. We liked this set-up and know it will be nice to have when the girls get older and start fighting over mirror space. This is Hailey's side and the other side is yellow with a duck trim. I tried to talk Aimee and Sarah into letting me take the ducks down but they're not quite ready to give them up. The butterflies on the wall are from Target (I got the last two packs from our store!) and the stool is from Hobby Lobby. The picture on the wall below is also from Hobby Lobby and the other things are from Target. I love the look of Pottery Barn but don't have the budget to do things up quite that fancy. 

There's some empty wall space in this vanity area so we're going to add some shelves up high for towel storage, toiletries, etc. and I have a wooden board with hooks on it that I've painted and am going to hang below the shelves for the girls to hang their towels to dry. I'll have to take a picture of that later. I'm just waiting for Matt to have some time off of work so that we can finish up that job.

This is the blue we picked- a nice light aqua called "Frosty" from Lowe's. It goes perfectly with the blue on the shower curtain. We had the pink toilet cover before and got the cute green rug to match. You can see a small glimpse into the vanity area and into Sarah and Aimee's room. 

Now that the bathroom is mostly done I am working on another project- this is in Hailey's bedroom. I've since added the flowers all the way across, filled in the empty stripe where the border used to be (I painted it pink to match the pink on the wall) and have the space taped off to do some chalkboard paint on Hailey's closet door. I'll take some more pics and post them soon. I think it's going to be pretty cute when it's done. 

Where the tiny bit of blue is on the wall there was a floral border. Hailey pulled it down not too long after I put it up a few years ago and we never have been able to find it. The dresser is just a hand-me-down and we repainted it white. The drawers used to be pink and green to match the wall but I gave them a fresh coat using the blue from the bathroom and touched up the paint on the drawer pulls. 

Check back for pictures of the room finished- I'm heading upstairs to do the chalkboard paint- we were going to paint a tree on the wall using that paint but the walls are so textured that I didn't want to sand it down and paint only to have us cover it up later and then have a spot that was flat instead of textured. I'm going to paint on her closet door instead. I'm also adding some butterflies and a rainbow and things at Hailey's request. I'm not much of an artist so we'll see how it turns out!

p.s. yes, that's my little helper Lily on the floor. She hasn't been napping very well lately. 

brand new Jillibean!

Here it is, the first full sneak:

What do you think? Do you like it? Do you LOVE it? 

As always, leave a comment on the post for your chance to win some:

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/06/lets-have-a-little-sneak-homemade-6-bean-soup.html

out and about

I have been trying to get more exercise, something that's hard to do with four kids at home and so many things going on. At least that's the excuse I like to use.

I'm too tired. I'm too busy. My shins hurt if I run.

Well, today I went for a couple of walks and it felt great. The first one was short-lived, just down the block and back since Lily was ready for a nap and was screaming her little heart out. Later I took Bella (our basset hound) for a walk and got to go quite a bit further and it felt so good. We even got a taste of a bit of wildlife- a few jackrabbits and then we stumbled upon this as we crossed  field (this isn't my picture, just a picture from online of the same thing we saw in the field):

found here http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/halldw/bio455l/files/Lizard.html

It's a Texas horned lizard and it caught me by surprise, so much that we went back to take another look. Bella wasn't too impressed, she didn't seem to care, at least not as much as she cared about the jackrabbits she tried to run down. ☺ The lizard we saw was more brown so it was well camouflaged in the dirt and brush in the field. The kids were a little jealous that they didn't get to see it, too. 

p.s. I just read that this lizard is the Texas state reptile. Pretty cool. 

a card for Monday

It seems that my summer is made for short blog posts.

We have some family coming into town this weekend for Lily's baby blessing so we've been fixing up some things around the house trying to spruce it up a bit and get things more organized.

Today I have to finish up the bathroom and get some laundry done, take the girls' to their swimming lessons and cut Matt's hair. It is sure to be a busy day, as all days seem to be lately.

Here's a card that I created for Jillibean Soup.

I just love using the Pea Pod parts that come with each collection!

Make sure to check out all of the fantastic cards on the Jillibean Soup blog today:
http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/06/cards-on-monday-2.html#comments

happy Sunday

Are Sundays a day of rest at your house?

Perhaps it's just like any other day, a day off from work, a day to relax.

Sundays are a mix of the above at our house. With 4 kids 6 and under there is not much time for resting, though. We go to church so we have a nice breakfast in the morning, give the kids baths and try to spend some quiet time reading and spending time together before we head off to our meetings.

Sundays are a refresher for me, a time to go to church and be reminded of what is really important, a time to get rejuvenated for the coming week.

I hope you are having a nice Sunday.

I have a page to share with you quickly today- a mix of American Crafts Campy Trails and Cosmo Cricket Togetherness.

Have a great day!

oh boy it's Jillibean sneak time and a new baby layout

I have to tell ya that we are a bit spoiled on the Jillibean team in that we get to see sneaks of the new collections being released this summer but TODAY they have a sneak for all of you as well!

Here's the first peek at...

There are a lot of things going on at the Jillibean Soup blog today including a giveaway!

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/06/attached-are-my-layout-using-watermelon-gazpacho-soup-from-the-first-sket

I had a little bit of time the other night so I did some scrapping for me instead of scrapping for a deadline. Really, all of my scrapping is for me but this page was created without a deadline or specific guidelines for the supplies I needed to use. I decided to dig into my stash and used a mix of older and some new Sassafras and topped it off with some alphas from American Crafts. 

I fell in love at first sight with the Sassafras Ellie's Tale, especially this cute little elephant.

I dressed her up with some stitched blossoms and stickers (also Sassafras). 

Rush on over to the Jillibean Soup blog to sign up for the giveaway! 

Also, there will be a BIG announcement on the American Crafts blog today so make sure to check that out. 

how about an Easter page in June? and some headbands

When I do design work for the American Crafts blog I have to wait a couple of months before I can post those things here and often times I just forget so I thought I'd share a couple of things here today.

This layout was posted on the American Crafts blog back on April 12, the day before I began my 2-week stint in the hospital. Oh what a joy that was not but  it's just a distant memory now. Our baby girl is home and is growing like a weed as they say, and keeping me up at all hours of the night, too. She is such a sweetheart, though, and getting cuter and cuter every day.

Anyway, here is my two-pager. I was nervous about this assignment since I very rarely do two-page spreads  but it turned out to be a lot of fun and it's something I would do again ♥

and here are some detail shots:

This "Hello Sunshine" collection from American Crafts is just so much fun!

These are some headbands I made for a tutorial for the AC blog in March. This was such a fun project. Leave it to Sarah,though, to tear apart the one I gave to her :(

You can find the tutorial here:

http://americancrafts.typepad.com/studio/2011/03/ribbon-headband-tutorial-by-becky.html#comments

a jillibean page

Good morning!

I've been up with little Lily and am ready to head back to bed if she'll let me. I sure didn't get much sleep so I want to hurry back to bed before the other kids get up so this post will be a quick one.

Here's a page I created for Jillibean Soup using the cute Watermelon Gazpacho collection.

Just wait til you see the new releases from this coming CHA!!

painting and swimming lessons and other stuff

It's been a busy week here at our house with us running kids to and from swimming lessons and gymnastics. Next year I think we'll put all of the girls in the same swim school so that we're not running all over town here and there at different times during the day. We kept the 3 and 5 year olds at a smaller pool where the girls also take gymnastics and enrolled our almost-7 year old at a pool where she can really learn how to swim. The pool at the other place is pretty shallow (only 3 1/2 feet deep) so you can only learn so much when your feet are always touching the bottom of the pool.

I've also been doing some painting today. I'll have to take a picture of the girls' bathroom tomorrow to share with you.

And, guess what? I did some scrapping tonight- two layouts in less than two hours and they weren't even for team assignments. I got to play with some older Cosmo Cricket mixed with some new American Crafts for one page and a mix of Sassafras on another layout. I am really loving the Sassafras page! I've missed playing with my stash. It's hard to find time to do all of my design team assignments sometimes so it's rare that I get to do pages for "myself" and it was a lot of fun!

I'll share some things with you tomorrow.

stay tuned...updated

I will have the first of a bunch of sneaks from My Little Shoebox starting today!

We got to see just a little peek at each collection and from what I've seen there are some really cute things coming to us from MLS this CHA. I'll be back a bit later.

As soon as American Crafts and Jillibean Soup start sharing sneaks I'll have those here, too.

I just LOVE this time of the year- Jillibean has some amazing things for us as well and I can't wait to see what American Crafts has up their sleeves with this release.

p.s. Here's the first MLS sneak:

and a couple more My Little Shoebox projects

How is your week going? Are you excited for the weekend?

What are your plans?

While some people like to be on the go I really enjoy some quiet time at home and that is just what we're going to do this weekend since my husband will be working. I haven't yet ventured out with all 4 girls on my own- I just might have to so that I can go to the craft store and get some things for a fun new project I have brewing ☺

Here are a couple more of my June projects for My Little Shoebox. These projects all use the Sew Cute collection.

First off, this layout with pictures of brand-new baby Lily. It's amazing how much she's changed and grown in the  last 7 weeks. She was SO tiny. She has wiggled her sweet, tiny self into our hearts. We all love her so much. I just wish she'd sleep! Any tips for getting babies to nap when they don't want to? I was up with her until 11:30 the other night because she just didn't want to go to sleep when I laid her down. Made for one tired mama.

For this one I used left over scalloped circle pieces from the page down below. I love being able to use my scraps! 

And lastly, this simple page with pics of Aimee in her new Justin boots. REAL cowgirl boots. She was the first of our kids to be born in Texas and she sure does love wearing her boots- inside, outside, to the store, to church. We bought her first pair to go with her Halloween costume last year when she dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story

Ever since then she's had an infatuation with her boots. When she started to outgrow those little brown boots my husband took her shopping to find some new ones- only these ones weren't $15 boots from Walmart. He took her to a western clothing store in town and got her REAL Justin boots that cost too much for shoes for a 3 year old but she loves them and I am sure that we will more than get our money's worth: 

Aren't they cute boots? You can't beat boots with PINK on them! 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

sharing some My Little Shoebox

One of the things i love most about My Little Shoebox papers are the fun patterns. I've been a fan for at least a few years now, so it's been fun to be a part of their design team and "have to" scrap for them. I missed doing projects for them for May since I was stuck in the hospital on bedrest so here's a closer look at some of my work for the MLS blog for the month of June.

I really like the journaling diecuts that come with each collection and here I used a few as embellishments as you can see in this detail pic:

I just cut the border from around this journaling spot so that all I was left with was the cloud shape. The circle is cut from another diecut and the rays are cut from one of the pieces of patterned paper. Fun, huh? I always like to find fun new ways to use the products. 

Have a great day!

I know that I've been MIA

I seem to be posting things like this a lot lately, huh?

(Lily in her cute outfit from my Australian friend, Tanya- Lily will be 7 weeks old tomorrow!)

Little Lily has decided that she doesn't like to sleep during the day unless we are holding her. I love to hold her and cuddle her and smell her sweet baby smell but it makes it really hard to get anything done. I was holding her this morning as I vacuumed and funny enough she slept right through it but the minute her sisters came in from playing outside she was awake and crying again.

Go figure.

I discovered that she WILL sleep in her carseat, so that is where she is now- snuggled up in her carseat inside of her crib. I just had breakfast at 10:30. It's going to be an interesting day.

The other girls are coloring and so that I can get some things done I am right now writing this post, uploading some pictures from my camera and calling my sister. That's the only way I can get anything done.

I have done some cleaning, the house actually looks pretty good so I am going to spend the afternoon scrapping and the kids can get crafty, watch tv or whatever they want as long as they don't make a huge mess. I have some scrappy work to get done while the baby is sleeping! ☺

Here's a peek at what we've been up to lately:

The girls went to dance camp with some girls from church last week- this picture is from their recital last Friday. 

We got ready to go to swim lessons for Sarah and Aimee yesterday and found out that their session doesn't start until NEXT week. I'd bought a little pool for them since Bella chewed up the other one last year and since two of the girls were already suited up we decided to set up the pool and the girls had a great time. The trick will be to keep Bella (the dog) out of the pool and to keep her from chewing it up. With the weather we've been having lately (it was 105 yesterday) we will get lots of use out of it. 

(our little chewer)

We found some HUGE marshmallows at the store one day and since we haven't been camping we decided to make some "indoor" s'mores- just 10 seconds in the microwave and you have a nice, gooey treat!

I hope you have a great day!

how about some Campy Trails?

When this collection was first released I thought it was cute but so different from what I typically use.

It has sat in my scrap room waiting to be used until just recently when I got the assignment to make some cards for an upcoming American Crafts blog post. The patterns are reminiscent of "vintage" AC and while it's a camping theme the papers are versatile enough for everyday layouts. Here's one I made with some pictures of Aimee from last fall.

I especially like the big Flair that says, "So Stinkin' Cute." 

Thanks for stopping by!

six weeks old today

It's hard to imagine life without our little Lily.

The past six weeks have been a whirlwind, a rollerocoaster of emotions at times that started with the previous two weeks that I spent in the hospital.

TODAY is the day that Lily was due. I find it a bit funny that I kept telling my husband that she would be born early only to have him make reservations for us for our anniversary on May 26. We had to reschedule those reservations since we had a little baby to take care of.

Lily is a joy, loved by us and her big sisters who want to be where she is, want to hold her and want to hug and kiss her. It's hard to believe that she's six weeks old already, though it also feels like so much longer.

Here is a page that I created using an ultrasound picture and a pic from the day that Lily was born. The papers, etc. are from the American Crafts Hello Sunshine collection.

Have a great day!

a Jillibean Soup card and a winner!

Good morning!

How was your weekend?

Ours was great, lots of fun things like making indoor s'mores with giant marshmallows which the kids loved and lots of play and fun and of course some cleaning up, too. I'll have to share some pictures later.

Today my two oldest begin their week of dance camp- they spend the morning of each day this week learning some new dances and then we get to see them in a recital at the end of the week. Should be a lot of fun for them and a great way to fill up the hours during the start of summer vacation.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by during the MLS blog hop and a big thanks to everyone who left comments here. I chose a winner through random.org and that winner is lucky #16.

 Karen B. said...

These collections really do work well together and great subjects too. Too cute!

June 3, 2011 4:27 PM

Karen B, please send me your address at mattandbeckywilliams at yahoo dot com and I'll put together a fun bunch of My Little Shoebox and maybe a few other extras for you!


CONGRATS, KAREN!!!

This morning I'd also like to share a card with you that is up on this morning on the Jillibean blog.  I created 
this using some of the brand new Watermelon Gazpacho collection.

Aren't these little Pea Pod Parts and corrugated shapes the cutest? I love that Jill has added so many fun new things to go with each of the collections. When she added the journaling sprouts to go coordinate I thought that was brilliant but now there are cardstock stickers and pea pod parts as well. LOVE them!

I hope you have a great day!

p.s. Do you like those cute little pinwheel flowers that are so popular now? 

The Delights are featured this week on the American Crafts blog and you can see a couple of my projects http://americancrafts.typepad.com/studio/2011/06/delights-week.html

Here is a little peek at my layout:

Mixing it up with My Little Shoebox

Good morning and welcome to another My Little Shoebox blog hop!

Some of you who know me know that I love to mix and match papers and things when I'm scrapping so I was excited when the ladies at My Little Shoebox asked if we'd like to do a blog hop where we mixed up the MLS collections to show how well they work together.

Isn't that a great idea?

Oh, just in case you've wandered to my blog and would like to do the hop please start at the My Little Shoebox blog here:  http://www.mylittleshoebox.typepad.com/ where the ever-so-talented Vicki Boutin will share some beautiful pages using MLS.

If you follow the blogs you should have arrived here from Ilene's blog.

Here I have mixed the following collections both new and old:
Home Tweet Home: Birds of a Feather and A Place to Nest papers

Garden Party: Sweet as Honey paper

Little Ladies: Molly paper

Green: Woodsy paper

Farmer's Market: Tutti Fruiti and Fresh from the Field papers

Harmony: Journaling diecut

Sew Cute: In Stitches paper

City By the Bay: journaling diecut

Other: foam adhesive, alphas from American Crafts

and a couple of detail shots:

Up next you'll visit the blog of the fabulous Shemaine Smith.

I hope that you are enjoying the hop and that you're getting lots of inspiration to mix things up on your scrappy projects.

Have a great time hopping and thanks so much for stopping by!

Leave a comment here and I'll enter you in a drawing for a mix of My Little Shoebox products.

I'll pick a winner on Monday!

I'm up on the MLS AND Jillibean Soup blogs today

How is your week going so far? We took a break from our house clean-up yesterday and had some crafty fun outside. The girls got to ride bikes, eat lots of popsicles and paint/use chalk on the driveway and they had a great time!

Of course Sarah's popsicle had to be PINK!

Aimee and her art project. She thought it was pretty cool to paint on the sidewalk.

Hailey taking a break from her chalk drawing to have an Otter Pop. 

Pretty soon after I found out I'd made the My Little Shoebox design team I ended up in the hospital on bedrest because of preeclampsia. I had tried to work ahead on my scrapbooking assignments but since there was no way I could have anticipated my hospital stay I hadn't gotten everything done yet since it wasn't due for two weeks. Because of that I didn't do any projects for the MLS blog for May. 

Today you can see my first projects as a member of the MLS team.

Here's a sneak and the link where you can see 3 of my layouts:

http://mylittleshoebox.typepad.com/my-little-shoebox/2011/06/sew-cute-with-becky-and-some-news.html

and here's another look at my "New" layout up on the Jillibean Soup blog today featuring the cute new Watermelon Gazpacho collection and our cute Lily:

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/06/layouts-on-thursday-1.html

Have a great day!

p.s. I just found out some devastating news. Jared Budge, husband of Monica Budge who run Budge's Honey  in Utah, was killed last night in a car accident. I knew them when I was a kid; I used to babysit for them and knew their family well. Just goes to show that life is so very short. Go hug your family.