I'm Moving

Sadly it's not into a larger house with an extra bedroom. living space, fence, garage & huge laundry room/pantry that I'm sure is bigger in my head & already my favorite in the house like I've been waiting months for. I am excited about it though. It's not quite ready. Still thinking & tweaking. Would you like a peek? Here you go. :)

A Couple Weeks Late

I took this picture on August 20th. She'll be 6 weeks soon. The time is going sooo quickly. I've been a little distracted with life so finding time to blog has been more than challenging. I've had a lot of thoughts for a post but little time with two hands free to type. Often while I'm nursing the baby I'll type one handed quick responses on facebook or browse blogs without typing any replies. Mostly I just love to cradle her, caress her hair and that soft spot on her head and soak in this time. As I look at my 6 and almost 4 year old kids I am quickly reminded how fleeting this time is. Those little tiny toes and fingers will never be so small again.

Introducing...

Miss. Delilah Brooke

7lbs 14oz, 20.5inches

July 20, 2010

Sunday Scrappin'

I didn't get to any photo scrapbooking this week but did finish up some altered items. These first projects I had done for a while but had trouble gluing the letters together and while waiting to hang there were a few accidents that needed repair. Today I'll get some Command Picture Hanging Strips & we'll get the names up. I can't take full credit for this project. I was inspired by a name I saw that was done in varying fonts & sizes decorated & embellished.

Ta-da!:

There are three different fonts used on these letters (wooden, 3D cardboard & chipboard) found at Hobby Lobby. I let Lydia {with a little help from me} choose three embellishments to add, then I embellished those with fuzzy fibers & a rhinestone (on the flower). They are all covered in patterned paper, except the Y & D. The Y has solid paper on it then I used a roller stamp to decorate. The D is just painted.

Michael's name is done the same way - various fonts, covered in paper (L is painted, H has solid paper with stamps) and embellishments that he picked out {because they're types of transformers} and I embellished with some supplies from my scrappy stash {Italian paper clips, small gears & paperclips. I left his name in two pieces so it would be more sturdy.

This project was also inspired by a similar one that I saw somewhere. Lydia hasn't been too interested in bows until just recently. The trouble was our pup would find them left around on the floor & chew them to pieces. So I took a frame I wasn't using, removed the glass & covered the backing with patterned paper (would have left empty if we had painted walls and I may still remove the paper}and hot glued ribbons to the inside edge of the frame. Now her clips can hang above the dresser & I don't have to worry about the dog chewing them.

To-do:

• Hang names
• Do some baby shopping
• Stock fridge & pantry
• Have baby

Thanks for stopping by! To share your scrap or crafts click on the button above. If you don't have something to share maybe you'll find some inspiration. :)

Happy Fourth of July

Scrap {& stuff}

It's time for Sunday Scrappin' again! I was reminded this morning that we've got one month of summer vacation done. Here that means halfway, wow! It goes too quickly. So far most of our summer activity has included the pool in the backyard, sunscreen and shade. Much of my time has been spent  cleaning, decorating and preparing for baby's arrival. As usual I have plenty more on my lists and a couple projects in limbo - almost done but not quite. I'll share those next week.

Ta-da!:

And I think my collage is finally done. I moved the ballet slippers, not sure if I'll move them again. I still need eggs for the nest {painted that purple so it pops more than the yellow} but I'm really happy with it. I finally got to the butterfly project I was waiting to do using an empty frame I wasn't using in the living room, painted it and put a piece of cardboard with a textured pattern paper and butterfly printouts that I cut. I love how it turned out but can't take credit, totally copied the idea from something I saw on Etsy but mine is slightly different. One sleepless night I found a cute bird image, printed it & mounted on a 'quilted' background {cut squares of two papers and arranged like a patchwork quilt} and painted the empty frame. Lastly I added a little canvas I found at Hobby Lobby for $1.50 - score on the clearance shelf! You can click the first picture to enlarge & see it - it's orange with a bird cage and says "live laugh love", just ignore that the lettering is completely crooked.

This project isn't exactly scrap but reminds me of a scrappy layout. Before my grandparents visited {a couple weeks ago} I finally got another project finished. I've had these boards painted for a while, they would move from the table to my bed between meals and laundry time. One night Shawn hung them and the next day I arranged frames & stuff on them. The idea is to have pictures of all of our immediate family members in these frames, some as you can see are still empty and others need to be updated. I'm happy with how it looks {minus the crookedness of the black frame, it refuses to stay straight} and like the pop of color in our  mostly neutral living room.

To-do: 

• Hang project in waiting & hope it doesn't fall apart.
• Order photos to finish Lydia's album.
• Finish Lydia's album {though with delivery of pictures that may not happen until after the baby comes}
• Journal family pages
• Organize scrappy stuff
• Work on baby bedding - finish baby's quilt!
• One more decorative project for baby.
• Go shopping for still needed baby supplies....oops!
• Clean & organize house 10 times - that just seems to be the way around here nowadays lol.
• Have baby - sooner than later so I can sleep again and be rid of heartburn. :)

36 weeks ♥

{bird} Nesting!

Oh yeah baby, I tackled it alright! Lately my posts have been all about scrappy stuff and household projects. Aaaand that's pretty much what I've been up to. Fortunately for the kids we've also thrown some fun in the pool & free summer movie time in buuuut mostly it's projects and checking things off of my page long to-do list.

One big project that consists of lots of little projects has been taunting me and it's finally {just about} done!

I SO wish this was my project but it's not. It is the inspiration for my room which I'm just as happy to have used. :)

This is {a bad photo of} my {just about} finished project! I'm really happy with how it's coming together, even more happy that it's all together on the wall instead of parts and pieces everywhere around the house halfway done. I made a birds nest using a basket I wasn't using, hot glue & decorative spanish moss. For some reason I painted the basket a creamy yellow...not really liking the look of it so I may grab another unused basket and try a redo. I still need to glue birds eggs into the basket. The sideways family photo isn't part of the decor. I put it there in place of a project that is in the works {paper is chosen} but I wanted to see a finished product, even if it was only almost done.

The last piece to do was the window frame. It used to have glass buuut one broke and that looked funny, then another fell out and it looked really funny so I just popped them all out. I actually like it better without the glass. I tried hand sanding that sucker (3-5 layers of paint) and my kind husband took pity on me and introduced me to his power sander. There was still some hand work in the details but by that time I was okay with there being some paint left. I painted it blue and distressed the edges some then stapled some wire to the back for hanging.

And here's a close up of a couple other pieces I made. My hubby screwed a hole for the doorknob and screwed in some hooks on the top for me to attach ribbon for hanging. I still need to add the girls' initials to the bird houses.

Not quite so exciting but last night the husband and I rearranged furniture. And by we I mean he moved stuff while I swept, tilted my head to the side & directed traffic. The new set up has a much better flow, even though it's still too much furniture in this small space - if we weren't so close to moving into more space I'd pare down. What's more exciting is we'll be hanging pictures soon - I had some up but didn't like the arrangement and took them all down - it will feel like home again...and another thing will be checked off the list!

I also made progress on my scrapbook list you can read about here if you'd like. Other things accomplished but not exciting enough to write a full post on - updated my photo back up, sorted through old photos and scanned 400 so my sister & I could both have copies, organized the husband's closet {even got rid of some shirts he's held onto for FIVE years!}and have a couple things in a bag ready for me to take to the post office. :D Have I mentioned that checking things off my list makes me giddy?

This week I'm still working on the baby's quilt and checking more things off of my running list!

Sunday Scrappin'

Woohoo!!! Sorry, I'm just a little excited. I've made progress with some things on my list this week and checking things off a list makes me a little giddy. Especially when that list is a page long and I'm working with a couple of deadlines - one unknown. The first is family visiting next weekend! That is very exciting for us, our first visitors in three years. :D The unkown deadline is baby's arrival. Tomorrow puts me at 5 weeks {or less} so there are some things I really want finished, and others that aren't such a big deal. I won't share my page long to do list with you because it's pretty boring to be honest. But I will share the fun projects that I get finished.

Ta-da!:

My favorite store to shop at {Hobby Lobby} had a fantabulous sale this week. My fabric choices for the baby's bedding were still 30% off {Yay!} and tons of scrappy stuff was 50% off! {albums, page protectors, some adhesives and all papers}. I really showed a lot of restraint only purchasing things I knew I would use right away...I had to stay away from the papers. The only item I bought that wouldn't be used right away was my click n stick adhesive but I know I will use it because it's my most favorite adhesive out there. I took advantage of the album & refills sale and Michael's first year albums are now in 3 ring binders. His others were falling apart and these look so much nicer on the shelf with the others.

My to-do list from last week:

• Journal Lydia's pages 
• Finish Lydia's pages {some need photos added, embellishments, titles} worked on this
• Finish Lydia's album to-do list {shouldn't be many pages left} selected photos needed
• Transfer Michael's pages to new albums
• Journal family pages 

It feels so good to make progress with things that have been hanging over my head for a while. 

.

Short Scrap

    

Sadly I don't have any finished work to share today. In fact I didn't sit down to scrap, journal, organize or finish anything in my albums this week. I did make two cards {identical} for Michael's teacher & teacher's aide. He finished up kindergarten and summer vacation began.

 Ta-da!:

These were a quick put together the morning before school. I wrote a note for each of them on top of the inside and Michael wrote a note of his own on the yellow. The front says "You're A Blast" and the inside says "to wonderful you from thankful me", Lydia added the little piece of yellow paper that was punched and I helped her write her name on it. She enjoyed days that we went to Michael's class and his class was very sweet to her. She cried on the last day and I managed to hold back the tears {until I hid out in the bathroom}. The paper I used is red but for some reason my camera thought it should be more of an orange.

Ta-do:

• Journal Lydia's pages
• Finish Lydia's pages {some need photos added, embellishments, titles}
• Finish Lydia's album to-do list {shouldn't be many pages left}
• Transfer Michael's pages to new albums
• Journal family pages

That's pretty much the same to-do list I've had for a few weeks now. Fingers crossed this week I get some of it done and by done I mean complete. Thanks for visiting! To share your own scrap or be inspired by other scrappers click the button at the top of this post.

How I Started My Summer Vacation

Today was the first day of summer vacation! Yesterday I was a little sad that my kindergartner was now a first grader, that already 6 years ago I was pregnant with him and wondering just where my little boy went. Today I was over it and excited for what lies ahead. Then I got a little nervous when the "I'm hungry" {right after breakfast} and "I'm bored, what can I do?!?" {at 8:00am} started. I had a thought a few weeks ago that I should plan out some activities to avoid such situations and apparently the thought was a fleeting one. After my morning coffee I attempted to make a simple chart with time displayed on a clock & written out, then put an activity in word and picture - so Lydia can understand too. For some reason my word and publisher programs decided they would freeze up at the mention of clip art. Pansies.

Fortunately a search on google images led me to this fabulous site -  Executive Homemaker  where they have lists and organizational tools galore! I found this particular section very helpful with my clip art issues. More searching on google images led me to a blank clock face with numbers that I printed multiples of and wrote/drew in the times myself. 

So I cut up all my printables, laminated them and arranged them on some scrapbook paper. It turned out to be much larger than I originally had planned but it works. So far. I can make adjustments as needed. Of course this is a general guideline for the day when we're home and the kids have been informed that momma trumps the chart. ;)

I did some more looking around at Executive Homemaker and found an idea for another quick project. This post and this post were my inspiration.

 I used my publisher program (any kind of word program would work just the same) and google images to make my own toy tags. Then I cut, laminated (leaving extra to one side for the ribbon), punched a hole and added some ribbon from my scraps bag. The bottom two labels are on tubs so they didn't need a ribbon.

Now the kids' toy cubbies are labeled with a word & photo making clean up easier for them & their friends that come over to play. I realized after they were up that I really would be okay if everything in my house had a label on it. That's a scary thought.

I suppose the title of this post is misleading. Most would assume there would be pictures of fun at a pool, park or beach {I wish!} but here I am with my print outs, labels and routines. Sigh...there's no denying who I am is there? To top that off I spent more time on publisher {love it second to excel} and have two color coded calendars {June & July} full of fun activities for the kids and our families. I don't have every day scheduled out but there are options for us. Some things like free  morning movie, dollar bowling night and story time at the library are repeated through the week/month so each week I can figure out which day works best. I also put appointments, birthdays and Shawn's days off to make for easy planning. At the top of the calendars I have a list of places to take the kids as a reminder. Though we've lived here 3 years there are lots of places we still haven't been and I'd love to check some off our list.

While I enjoy the slowness of a summer morning I don't want to have a summer overrun with lazy days. I think the calendars with researched activities will help me avoid this. And in fewer weeks than I'm ready to face we'll have a new little member of the family that will throw things off for a bit of time, before she does I want the kids to enjoy summer break.

And now I may be rambling. I started this post when it was still Friday and it's now Saturday and I should get some sleep. Thanks for visiting!

Scrappy Decor

One of my favorite stores to shop at is Hobby Lobby. If you don't know the goodness of that store I am truly sorry. There was a time I didn't know it's goodness either. Luckily for you they now have an online shopping option {you can use their weekly coupon} but sadly they don't have everything in the store available online. Part of the fun for me is looking at all of their home decor items. Not everything is my style but there's a lot of items to "ooh & ahh" over, plenty of 'oh shiny!' moments lol. Lately I've been working on decorating my kids' rooms {you can read about that here, here, here & here if you're interested} and am happy to say there's been more progress made. Last Sunday we had {another} rainy day. On rainy days I'm usually in the mood to clean or craft - or just be completely lazy ;) and that day it was craft!

Ta-da!:

I finally did something with Michael's shadow box! It's been well over a year {at least} since I got the three shadow boxes - Lydia's was done and then done again...but I was having trouble finding something to put in Michael's box. Sunday morning I was looking at something on google images {no idea what now} and Michael asked to see something with Transformers. The wheels started turning. I came across an allspark cube printout - made one for him and the wheels kept turning. I ended up with the Transformers logos & an allspark cube on a black background - he was happy. Then he wanted to do something with the extra sheet of black paper and I found another printout, downloaded the Transformers font to my computer for the text and he added his own drawing of the allspark. I added some black & white ribbon to the back of the paper to hang it in his room. I think I'm just about finished with his room. :D

Then I started on a project I shopped for a week or so ago. When at Hobby Lobby I saw cute wall plaques with doorknobs - but they were nearly $10 and I knew I could make one for less and have it go with the decor for the girls' room. {Photo tutorial below} So I walked to the crafty aisles and gathered supplies. I love when I'm right.

I also was also inspired to paint bird houses. So I gathered the supplies and Sunday {it was a long day of ignoring housework} they were painted. I made them similar but different....and totally understand why my mom often did the same with my sister and I. Now it's up to the hubs to figure out how to hang them from the wall. I'm going to let Lydia choose her house and paint an 'L' above the hole, baby girl's initial will be added after she's born.


Last night I cleaned up picture frames that have been sitting on my bookshelf for months. I really want to get frames hung in the next week or two & order prints to fill/update those frames. I also chose two papers for shadow boxes I have, still need to decide what to put in them. I also chose some papers for a project I have lined up for the girls' room.

Turned out not to be a very productive scrappy week but I was checking things off one list!

Altered plaque tutorial:

I started out with this plain wooden plaque{$1} and covered it with Mod Podge {already had} then wrapped a piece of paper {about 50 cents} around the front, it folds over the back and lightly sanded the edges and some on the face.

Then I cut another piece of paper {about 50 cents} to slightly smaller than the face, mod podged it {yes, that's a verb} & sanded the edges, also lightly sanded the face. The doorknob {$2} wasn't fixed yet but for photo's sake I took off the hardware and set it up. Total cost is about $4 plus tax and took about 30 min time, and I still have some paper left for the scrapbook.

Ta-do:

• Complete unfinished pages in Lydia's album - journaling, embellishments, some pictures.
• Do the same for the family album.
• Thank you cards {friends have gifted us baby items}.
• Scrap!

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