i spy

tagged!

i am sooo excited to be tagged! only my second time ever, though the first came and went without me knowing, so for me, it is like the first. my sweet friend beth tagged me. without further adieu... 

just a bit of sunday afternoon love at our house. yes we paint. yes we get dirty. no, it doesn't all wash out. and that's all for now as i am in between two weekend travels and i am a bit overwhelmed. i will tell you more story when i return home next week! happy weekend! see you in st louis!

ps - thank you beth--you have no idea how flattered i am to be tagged!

stopped me in my tracks

before i am allowed to scrapbook anymore, i MUST put my room back in order. (no, i won't show you a picture, that would only embarrass me, and then i would have to hide under a rock for awhile, as my social stamina is really quite limited. i only wish that were a joke...)

so, part of decluttering my room includes labeling and scanning completed layouts, and then putting them in chronological order in the kids' books. (mine is not ordered that way, but theirs are). as i was flipping through poppy's book, i saw this and i stopped in my tracks remembering this day and remembering how serious she was in her queries about whether or not i was going to return her to the hospital one day. so today is not a new layout, but one that i love still. and it is why i love this hobby/passion/craft/art/daily vitamin. because honestly, i had forgotten this story until i read my layout and then, whoosh, it all come flooding back in. scrapbooking magic at its best.

 i spy sweetwater and pink paislee patterned paper
sei and making memories letter stickers
creative memories corner rounder

happy tidying to me.... and happy night to you!

thwarted

so my big day of waffles and leprechaun shenanigans was thwarted by a very sore throat. not me, gratefully (um, yeah, that sounded much more selfish than it was intended...) but rather nigel. after loading him up with all the cold meds we had in the house, he put on his st paddy's outfit and we snapped a quick photo before he headed back to bed. poor poor baby.

here is one i finished up. wishing i had printed the journaling with fonts instead, but then i remember i have been without my word perfect for over a month, and i smile ever so sweetly thinking (hoping) it looks just fine. certain that you will be unable to read my dreaful handwriting, the journaling says, beneath the serene facade lies a steely will.
and yes, that means the twos are in full force these days. no me do it. ten thousand times a day. ten thousand times too many...

i spy basic grey patterned paper
close to my heart brads and photo turns
tinkering ink rubons

thanks for visiting. i hope you are having a good week!

a day of mourning and of remembering

last night, richard and i were flipping channels before bed (perhaps i was the one flipping channels - who me? really? guilty gulp...teehee!) when we stumbled across some pbs contribution special. (you know the ones they run over and over whilst trying to urge you to pledge a bit or a bit more?) i know you are thinking it must have been celtic women, but no, it wasn't. so then, of course, your next thought is suze orme. good next thought, but no, this guy was someone new. i think i saw him with dr oz once somewhere, but i might be wrong. i can't tell you his name as i have blocked it (psychologically) for reasons you will soon discover.

well, mr, no, dr purple scrubs was talking about being healthy. apparently his schtick, i mean lecture, was based upon a day of health - he had a clock that he was turning as he described the perfect healthy day. we began watching at about his 6:30 am phase (which should have been a sign to me to turn the channel as i can't possibly wake up at 6:30 am...crazy!) and now he was to 7:15. i can't remember what one was supposed to do at 7:15, but i remember what you are not supposed to do. DO NOT EAT ANY OF THE AGING FOODS. dr purple scrubs provided a list of the "only five foods that cause aging." appearing in his order:
1. saturated fats
2. trans fats
3. simple sugars
4. syrup
5. non whole grains.
YIKES! you know that this means? that every morning for the past four years, i have been purposefully aging myself with my breakfast. my waffles, covered in butter, and drowning in white corn syrup are aging me! how can this be? what is a girl nearing a dreadful birthday milestone to do? stop, drop and roll? no. stop, drop, and 20? closer, but no. cease and desist? yes! no more white flour buttery syrupy waffles for me. no way, no how. last night i pledged that today would be the first day of my wrinkle free, anti-aging diet.

so this morning i followed my vow to have none of it. (and i'm not talking about canada's newest territory! (inside canadian joke for my homelanders...)) no waffles, toast, oatmeal with brown sugar. no orange juice, no easter cream eggs, no breakfast at all, really. why eat?

so at noon, i am a mess. a mean angry sugar craving mess. but i'm not aging. (well, except for the furrow between my angry eyebrows...)

by 2:00pm i have given in and now eat a three day portion of all the aging ingredients i can find.

by 2:35 i am racked with guilt for having aged myself so drastically and purposefully.

by 4:00 i can't possibly scrapbook in my dour mood.

by 5:00 i begin avoiding all mirrors so as not to have visual affirmation of new wrinkles caused by sonic burger, strawberry limeaid, dr pepper, 2 easter cream eggs, and other various and sundry simple sugars and trans fats...

defeat sets in and slowly overtakes the evening...

then, as i prepare for bed

at 9:00 richard asks me if i look older than everyone else my age. (no.)
at 9:01 richard asks if i have more wrinkles than everyone else my age. (not everyone.)
at 9:02 richard says maybe i can eat my waffles every morning without too much worry.
at 9:03 i remember why i love i richard so much, and head to bed happy that tomorrow i may have waffles again.

sorry for no layout today. maybe tomorrow after waffles... hooray!

today i am tidying, folding those baskets of laundry from yesterday, and trying to not eat all the oatmeal cookies left over from activity days. before the day runs away from me (fridays seem to do that!) i wanted to come post a new layout. lavender is a bit tricky to photograph as she looks ever so briefly at the camera and then looks away. i am not a good enough photographer to be able to catch those quick glances in focus. so a few weeks ago when she sat atop a stool and just smiled and posed for minutes, i was ecstatic and giddy with the results. the photo on this layout is one from that day. i know the chin is a bit low for a great composition, but i don't even care as this photo is as i see her often. hooray! and thank you my baby, for letting me capture you!

i spy basic grey paper, a close to my heart brad, a couple of yellow staples, some old chatterbox letter stickers...

i spy more edge distressing, a making memories brad, strip journaling

i spy a bit of stitching, a (homemade) notebook edge and the rest of the journaling

i spy layers and a photo glipmse

 

sorry for the easel coming through the white paper. i'll post a scan when my dowstairs computer monitor once again decides to turn on! (i'm not holding my breath. the last time took 29 days...sigh...).

happy day! happy scrapping!

i promised

to stop the coraline pictures, and to bring you a layout. and today must be a good day as i am making good on both fronts. whoa! (and because you can't see me, you have no idea that behind me sits a room littered with barbies, two loads of laundry to be folded, and three dirty diapers waiting to be thrown away. but no matter, as i am not failing my blog writing. and that, my dear readers, is an accomplishment.)

without further adieu i bring you the teasers first.

i spy some american crafts thickers and  flowers, some rumpled cardstock, some handstitching, and a moda fabric square.

 
i spy more stitching and some edge abusing (teehee!)

i spy a little journaling about brother love...

and what's a layout without some ribbon and a couple of little sweet things (making memories)?

all adding up to...
 

now i know that bloggers sometimes focus on the smarmy stuff, but let's be clear - what's not to love about this embrace? look at that happy little poppy! she loves nigel soooo much. and i promise it's not just when the camera is out...

have a great night! thanks for stopping!

last one, i promise...

and another...

another...

have you seen this?

 

think perhaps this should be on tonight's menu. the movie, not the kids!

back soon with a new layout!

a stolen post

i keep a family blog with photos and commentary. this post is stolen from sunday's post. it was too much editing to go to waste! no, well, yes, but more importantly, i love how i can blog and journal and take many many photos but not feel any guilt about only scrapbooking the three at the end. no guilt. this is my hobby. i get to define how i do it. and this works for me. works great for me!

without further adieu...sunday's entry...

i wanted to get some pictures of the kids after church and two of the three played along. so we stood in the middle of the road and started shooting.

here is my poppy as she so often stands. tall, straight, smiley, hair amiss. beautiful. radiant.
 

then here comes her posey-pose. neck upstretched. eyes downcast and twinkly.
 

how about some funny faces? their response...
 

and then some crazy dancing!

 

bodies now stand still(ish), though poppy's feet are still moving!
 

then, a sweet smile
 

lavender's serene face, lips pursed - a normal quiet face for her. poppy sneaking into the photo. another very normal event!                          

 

poppy is my free-est spirit 

and has my most quiet thoughtful face. 

watch as richard comes out of the house. i love their expectant, happy faces. also notice how closely lavender echoes poppy's stance. 

next, monkey see---                                              

monkey do!!!                                            

 

how does one NOT fall in absolute love with that baby lavender smile? 

wanna take a picture of my star jump, mama? (monkey do quickly does one as well) 

just being themselves 

some fun fun fun in the middle of the road!

suddenly, dad yells, "car!"

off to the sidewalk. [please know lavender picked her shoes today and it wasn't a battle i was willing to fight. i am happy to have her out of her tutu for a day!]

monkey see sticks out her tongue--- (you know what's coming next...)

you guessed it!                                                

and with a dramatic flair for endings...                             

So were we successful? you bet. a bit of art for one above... 

or black and white if you prefer             

and love this one framed out              

but this, this is the money shot. yes, it will be on a wall near me soon! very soon. love the love. what a great day!     

 

shall i bother you with excuses?

two weeks no internet, no scanner, no nothing. then a week in arizona. then a week of corporate chaos. and finally a week off. now i am back and ready for spring. for green grass, warm sun, light breezes, tulips, daffodils, dogwoods, you name it. i am ready!

returning home from arizona was a bit of a shock to the system, so i spent a few days rummaging through last year's spring photos. oh, so helpful to fight away the winter blues. in the midst of my spring flinging, i was lucky enough to get my hands on the new baby line by my little yellow bicycle and some of the new paper by american crafts. and when it put bits and pieces of them together i got this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

which all came together to make this!

i had soooo much fun putting this all together. sometimes when you scrapbook for others you forget to play. this was all about playing with some great product, a sweet photo, and a story that was yet to be recorded. i am thrilled with how it came out, and equally thrilled to have some good creative juice.

i spy the following products

pens: tombow, american crafts

paper: american crafts, yellow bicycle

ribbon: stampin up, ki memories, ek success

brads and rubons: yellow bicycle

acrylic flower: making memories

edge distresser: close to my heart

letter stickers: sei

thanks for stopping by! i'll try to not be so infrequent...

promises, promises, i know...