Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Our Spring Break Hula Hoop Project

As soon as I saw this month's Family Fun magazine, I knew we had to try these fun Hula Hoop projects.  The hardest part was finding the hula hoops - none of the local stores had any yet, and we couldn't find any of ours (I think most were bent and broken and we threw them away before we moved).  Luckily a friend came to the rescue and picked some up for me on her run to our nearest WalMart an hour away.  This is what we have started...
We are weaving rugs - can you tell what each of their favorite colors is?  I need to order more t-shirts as we have run out of a couple of colors, but they are so excited and have so much fun doing these!  In the future I think it would be cheaper to buy fabric by the yard rather than cut up t-shirts as long as you have access to a fabric store, which I do not, unless I want to travel an hour or more.  It was easier for me to just order a bunch of colored t-shirts and have them shipped to me.  Here is what we have so far - I'll be sure to post the end results!
Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hey There Cupcake!

I have started clicking on the sketch and challenge blogs once again and have started to get back into them after a long absense - it's been fun!  Since I've been out of it for so long, I'm looking for some new ones to add to my sketch and challenge blog roll, so if you have any to recommend I'd love to check them out!
Today I'm going to share a card that I did for Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog.  The current Challenge #49 is "From the Kitchen" so I figured what a perfect time to pull out my Cupcake Sprinkles stamp set and put it to good use.  Here is my card:

I used the new Sophia papers, along with the Stay Left pattern from Wishes.  I also used some fun new pink ribbon under the cupcake and one pom pom that I snipped off and added to the top of the cupcake.  As I mentioned in my last post, I found my coluzzle and put it to good use to cut out my circles - for the Blush circle I then used my corner rounder to create a scallop circle - I love that technique!    I then edge distressed both of those and heat embossed the sentiment with White Daisy EP.

I still have a couple dozen more cards to share, and some pages as promised in my last post, so stay tuned!
Thanks for visiting!

Clearance Sale!

Check out my website for details on this awesome sale!  A plethora of discounted and retired products are available to you at phenomenal prices. Check back often to take advantage of these products that are offered while supplies last!  CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE SALE!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Woohoo!

My word of the week ;-) inspired by this card that I recently created:


I love clear cards but it's been a couple years since I've created one - this one was fun to get back into it.  I used the You're a Hoot stamp set and the Attention Getter pattern from Wishes.  I found some old brads that I had colored with Buttercup embossing powder a couple of years ago, but once I pushed the brads into the card, the powder cracked and broke off - I've never had that problem before, I think the powder must get old after a while.  I still think it looks cute with Silver brads instead of the Buttercup.  Here is the card open so you can see the different layers - the message can be written on the pink square.

Woohoo, it's Spring Break and it's actually feeling pretty good outside, I even broke out my capris this week!  The wind blew in some colder weather last night, but it's not too bad so far.  I saw our first rainbow of the year this week:

Woohoo - the kids have been able to play outside, most of the mud has dried up so they can go out without getting stuck.  It's been nice to be able to stay home and spend some fun time together!  We've been playing our new Wii games - Wheel of Fortune and Just Dance, some fun card games - Scum and Garbage (great names, right?) and basically just hanging out.  On a normal day we make 2 or 3 trips into town every day to drop kids off at school, go to preschool or story time, and head back for evening activities, etc, but I've barely done that all week, what a nice change of pace.  I've been able to get so much accomplished without so much running around.  I have a lot of fun activities planned for Spring Break and we've barely done a fraction of them - luckily they don't have to go back until Tuesday, hopefully we can get more done!
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The only downside this week has been sick kids.  I got a call from the school nurse just 45 minutes before they got out on an early release day on Friday, Brianna had a fever :-(  Then Brailee got a fever on Monday but was doing much better by yesterday.  Brianna still wasn't back to her normal self yesterday, but she was finally able to eat a good dinner last night and woke up with a bit more energy this morning.  We ALMOST made it two weeks with everyone healthy - we have never had so much sickness go around our house before.  I don't know if it's from the move or just one of those years, but I'm over everyone being sick.  With the nice warm spring weather I've had the windows open - it's been nice to get some fresh air and hopefully flush some of those lingering germs OUT!
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Woohoo - my dad and his wife came for a quick visit this last weekend - it was quick but good to see them again and finally do Christmas with them ;-)  They had fun playing this air hockey game and they taught us how to play Scum.



Another big Woohoo - Trysten is doing so well potty training.  He did especially well last week and was telling me when he needed to go, but after a weekend of playing with visiting family he suddenly decided he was too busy to let me know.  So we're still working on it, and he'll go when I tell him, but I'm still so impressed with how well he's been doing, especially when we're at preschool or story time or even church, he likes to go in public places for some odd reason!
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Woohoo - David and I updated our ancient cell phones and got some new ones yesterday - I've had some pics on my old phone for a couple years now and I've never been able to get them off, until now!  Here's a fun flashback with some old pics:
This was one of our bike rides - I just love how Brailee fell asleep on Trysten but he didn't mind a bit!
Brailee watching her sisters play softball

Face painting at story time a couple years ago

Woohoo - we FINALLY moved Kaylee into her new room at the end of last month - it's been so nice to free up Brailee's room just a little bit.  After 7 months of 3 girls sharing one room, it's been a nice change.  It's amazing how much easier it is to keep the rooms clean now - I used to cringe every time I would walk by Brailee's room, but it's SO much better now!  Here are some pics of Kaylee's room - we still need to add the finishing touches like wall art and curtains, but here it is for now:
We still need to finish her desk as well - it has a hutch with a corkboard but the box was missing a piece, so we're waiting for that to get shipped to us.
It was so nice to be able to move Kaylee's clothes out of Trysten's closet and into her own walk-in closet.  She LOVES her new room!
Woohoo - Brianna's room is getting closer - all of the drywall is up, we just need to mud, texture, and then we'll be ready for paint and flooring.  I am trying to find a large teal/turquoise rug so I can match the paint -  we discovered with Kaylee's room it's harder to match the rug once you've already painted, so we're trying to find the run first.  So if anyone finds one, please let me know!
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Another fun Woohoo - I've had lots of paper play time lately!  I have my temporary craft room set up - it's not pretty, but at least it's functional!  I still have a lot boxed up but every once in a while I will go looking for some more goodies that I know are hiding somewhere.  I got SO excited at the end of last week when I finally unpacked my Versamat and my Coluzzle - two products that I have missed terribly, especially when it came to cutting out circles.  Before I found my coluzzle I was trying to find cups or bowls that were just the right size for some of my projects which proved to be a pain.  I have already put both newly unpacked products to good use.  I finished an entire set of 16 cards - I will be back to share those soon, along with some pages I've been working on, and a bunch of cards, but for now, here is one card just because it's St. Patrick's Day and because I just feel So Lucky!  Have a great day!
Woohoo!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Scrapbook Update

I just added 36 pages to my scrapbook yesterday (plus 4 more pages for gifts) - all for less than $100 (which included free shipping and free page protectors) thanks to Studio J.  Eighteen of those pages were duplicates from the ones I gave to my mom for Christmas, without any extra work, just the click of a button.  I couldn't have done that many layouts, that quick, or that cheap with traditional scrapping.  I will NEVER give up my traditional scrapping (I actually have a current page in progress that I hope to share soon) but I am sure loving Studio J right now!  Here are the pages I added:

Thanks for visiting!

Monday, March 7, 2011

I'd like you to meet one of our neighbors...

...but we don't know his name!  All we know is that he knows how to get out of his field, he is super friendly and will come running up when he sees you, and if you let him get too friendly he'll keep coming back!  The kids were playing outside when he came over to visit for the first time.  He is usually in the field across the street, but apparently he knows how to escape.  I called our neighbor to let him know this little guy was out and he said if you go back inside he'll come home when he gets hungry or thirsty.  The kids had fun petting him.
Here he comes running up to Trysten, which freaked him out a little.  He didn't mind petting him, it just scared him a little when he'd come running right up.  Trysten calls him 'donkey' or 'pony' and will wave if he sees him in the field.  On a related note, he likes to climb into the back seat of the Yukon and I always remind him that he needs to ride in his car seat so he can be safe.  As soon as I say that, he looks around and says, 'Donkey?' so I guess it keeps him safe from that, too ;-)
Here he is waiting by our front steps after we went inside - he stayed there for a while and finally gave up and headed back home.
Before our visitor, the kids were bundled up and playing outside - can you see Trysten in there somewhere?!?
Ah, there he is!
Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Green Eggs & Ham

In honor of Dr. Seuss today, I am posting a flashback - these are some pages that I did of Kaylee the summer before she started Kindergarten.  This was her favorite book to read to herself. 

Gotta love Dr. Seuss!  We tried making some fun bookworm treats for the kids' classes today but my rice crispy recipe would not form right, so we had to settle with plain rice crispy treat squares ;-)  Are you celebrating in a fun way today?