Party Like a Rock Star

I can't...LOL!  Steve took me to the Nickelback concert last night in celebration of my birthday.  We rushed home from work, got the kids settled with their grandmas and off we went.  A great dinner and then an awesome show!

I felt good last night, but today...I just can't party like a rock star!

We had fun last night.  Felt like we were new and fresh on a first date.  We don't get to just spend time together like that and it was really nice.  Life ebbs and flows and I suppose relationships do that as well.

Here is a layout I made using the September Nook kit!  It is about this exact topic!

Speaking of beautiful kits full of scrappy goodies, the October Nook kit just got to my house and it is beautiful!  Wanna see?

The colors are so fabulous and so perfect for fall!  Head over and get yours today!!!

Off to bed.  I need like 10 hours of sleep tonight!

Birthdays on the Brain

I can't believe that I will turn 40 in just a few days.  It doesn't seem real!  My sister in law just celebrated her 40th as well.  We have a little phrase for this time of our lives, but I am saving it for a layout!  To honor our birthdays and the gift of friendship, my SIL, a couple of close friends and I headed out this weekend.  An overnight stay and afternoon spa treatment.  It was heavenly!  To actually be able to enjoy something without hearing, "I want, I need, Can you?"  was refreshing (not that I would trade my life with Ella and Nathan). 

During this season of birthdays, baby showers and the holidays, having little gifts are important.  And you can't have a gift without a gift box. 

I made my own modeled after one that a good friend gave me!  Here is the cone as well as matching card:

To make the cone, I started by cutting a rough cone shape.  The top is about 9 inches in length with rounded edges.  I used my Scor-it to score the curved edges as shown in the picture below.  The largest one is about 4 inches long.

I simply rolled the cone so that the seam was in the back.  Place lots of adhesive along one of the edges before you roll it.  Apply the adhesive only up to the score lines. I had a bit of a problem with the tiny end sticking to each other, so I simply popped it out with a pencil.

Fold along the seams to close the box.  Then I just made it pretty.  First I placed a Pink Paislee pleated ribbon around the cone.  Layer on a piece of the Artisan tape!  Top it with a cork button, Artisan stem and Bella Brad.  To make the time, simply punch a hole in each side of the cone, below the scored edges.  Put the end of the ribbon through the hole, going from the outside in and tie a knot.  Repeat and then tie a bow with the ends!!

(Supplies:  Pink Paislee Queen Bee paper, cork buttons, brad, Artisan Tape, Artisan swirl, black pleated ribbon, yellow pleated ribbon)

Easy Peasy and it adds an extra special touch to a gift.  Important to ease the pain of turning forty...

Where Have I Been?

what a week!

Where have I been?

Spontaneously painting this room.  The new office/scraproom!  This is what my space looks like right now.  Inspiring, huh?  NOT!  

Lots and lots of action at my house as my upstairs renovations are complete minus a few small details.  My new office desk is installed.  Only hours away from the kitchen being complete.

With that I have been painting up a storm on top of going to work and being a mom.  It was last minute to do this painting but I am happy because it is done!

I will show you real pics of the office when it is done.  The color is actually Hawthorne Yellow by Benjamin Moore and I adore it!

Heading off for a weekend with the girls...shopping, dinner, pedicures.  I really need the break so I am looking forward to it!

See you on the other side of it!

3 Weeks In

Three weeks into the school year and all is going well.  Ella seems very happy at her preschool and has lots of detailed stories to tell.  For some reason (maybe because she lives to push my buttons...), she cries at the end of every day.  I just want to crawl into a hole wondering if she will follow me to the car or stand firm, requiring me to play the "I will drive away without you" game.

Nathan just beams about going to school.  He is coming home reciting things his teacher has said and using words like "Reader's Workshop" and "the kindergarten way."  It is an adventure opening up his folder and seeing what work he has brought home that day.  He is actually attending the same school that I work at and I feel like the luckiest person.  He is totally spent and cranky by 6:00, but we will live with it!

So far, I have been on top of things (well, except for the lost name tag on the first day and the lunch money I didn't know what to do with).  Getting two kids and myself out of the house on time each day is C.R.A.Z.Y. 

I am sure we will have days like the one shown in this layout:

Ah, the green shirt.  The journaling sums the story up!

I am so in love with the new Pink Paislee collections!  The Parisian Anthology line is amazing to work with...and quite easy.  You can't really go wrong with it because it is meant to take ink and paint!  Perfect way to add little touches without adding stuff!

(Supplies:  Pink Paislee Old School Collection paper, sticker alphabet, metal badges, transparency; Lemon Cushies alphabet; Parisian Anthology paper)

Oh well, no one is perfect right?  I will take it as it comes...

The Windy City

Ah, Chicago.  CHA.  Friends.  The Disney World of Scrapbooking!  I am still talking about it.  Scrapping about it to be exact!  This was the first year where we actually made some time to go into the amazing city of Chicago.

I am not a city girl by any means.  It is all overwhelming to me.  But with the comfort of my friends, I had a blast exploring.  The city is quite clean and has so many beautiful sites!  We spent a part of our day at Navy Pier.  It must have been something to watch all of us with our cameras...snapping away. 

We even had a photo shoot where we took headshots.  My non-scrappy friends make fun of me for taking self-portraits, but it is a necessary thing in the scrappy world?  right? (please don't tell me it is just me!).  The layout with those shots are making their way to a layout near you!

Here is the layout I created to help me remember our city adventure!

I used Cosmo Cricket here!  I really adore their chipboard elements...totally inspires layout after layout!

I have only been back to work for 3 weeks and I am already craving a vacation.  I adore what I do and love the kids.  It is just so difficult balancing family, home and work.  Stretches me thin.

But oh well.  Such is life, right.
At least I will always have Chicago...

Oh, Baby!

Based on current life situations and a huge renovation, my budget has changed!  So what is a girl to do when her friend has a baby and said girl needs a baby gift?  How about dig into her stash and make a cute baby present!

I decided to make my very own ribbon board using a plain and simple (and inexpensive) cork board from Michael's!  Here it is!

This was so easy to make, really, I am not joking!  I took strips of ribbon and placed them in a criss cross position.  Start with the ribbon in the top left corner and bring it to the bottom right.  Do the same with the top right to the bottom left and the rest will fall into place.  I simply placed a small dot of Helmar glue on the ends and tucked them under the wood frame!  Place some brads in the centers of the criss cross and you have a ribbon board!

To jazz mine up, I added some Fancy Pants goodies (pick me, pick me!)!  The lion and girafffe are rub-ons that I applied to white paper and hand cut.  I used a transparency sheet along the bottom to add detail without it being too bulky!  The flower at the top is a wooden one that I bought at Michael's and decorated! 

Don't you think a handmade gift means so much more!??? I can't wait to see this filled up with baby photos!

Off to figure out what I am doing for my sister in law's 40th....giggle!

Sweet Somethings

I wonder how many of you talk or mutter to yourself as you are scrapping?  I will own up to it, I do it all the time.  Especially when I am trying something new.  "Oh, I like how that is looking!" or "Should I really put that there?"  How about the occasional squeal and clapping of the hands when something looks better than  you thought?

I have been pleading with my mists and inks to fall in just the right places lately.  Literally, out loud pleading.  A fly on the wall would think I was a bit off my rocker.

But in reality, I am just enjoying my hobby.  Finding my center in the midst of paper and adhesive.  Taking chances in a creative way allows you to see life in a new light.

Admit it...you do it too!

Here are some layouts that I made using the September kit from the Nook...I have really sweet-talked this kit as it is a handsome devil. 

When doing this one, I asked the little buttons to really help me balance out my chipboard title "Linked."  They did me that favor.

And on this one...I muttered something about being crazy for doing all this stitching.

Yep, talking to myself and I am not even forty yet. 

And you should hear me when I am cooking.

Lovin It Again

I mentioned in my last post that I have been really enjoying this hobby again.  I always love it, but I wasn't in love with it.  I think that moving and being crazed at home drained me of my energy.  But about a month ago, I decided to have fun again, just create!  It is just paper after all and I don't need a fancy space to create in (although I can't wait to make one).  I just need my imagination and supplies.

I have been playing with space, movement and design.  Like anything, I think regrouping and trying new things keep us fresh in life!  So here are some layouts using one of my fav companies, Fancy Pants.  Their stuff always gets me going!

Isn't that monkey cute???  I love these photos...totally taken on Shutter speed as my kids drove an kiddie ATV.  Their fun was totally captured!

I am loving mist and have been playing with it all the time!  I used a star as a mask and then hand-stitched around the edge!  This layout was inspired by the star rub-ons!  I did some pen work to make them pop even more!

Hope you find some scrappy time this weekend!  I'll be sure to do the same myself!

Running with Scissors

My favorite tool has to be my scissors!  I have the Tim Holtz ones with the cushy handles and sturdy blades...love that thing.  Every single one of my layouts or projects has hand cutting...I can't help myself!  You can make your own patterns, create your own borders and slice together some embellishments!

Case in point...some brand new Pink Paislee was used for this layout!  I love mixing Sweetness and Parisian Anthology...it is gorgeous together!

I handcut like crazy on this one!  It seems like it would take me a long time, but it really didn't.  I like to cut and listen to the TV at the same time.  It is soothing to me!  This was on the Pink Paislee Blog today so go check out my post! 

Here is one, using some lovely Fancy Pants from my stash!  Those flowers are totally hand cut along with the detailing on the edges of the lined paper!

If I were stranded on an island and could only bring a few things, scissors would make that list.  Of course, patterned paper and glue would have to be there too....

The Best Intentions

Do you ever have the best intentions and yet feel like they just aren't enough?  A friend of mine and I had a conversation about adult friendships and the constraints they face.  You want to talk to your friends every day like you used to when you were in high school, but can't seem to pull it together.  The demands of work, family, home responsibilities and, in many cases, children just pile up and make social time difficult.  Those of us who are honest will own up to the fact that most of time, you just don't want to talk to anyone after 8:30 at night. 

I live life feeling as though I don't have enough to give and some things have to fall by the side...for me that has been that daily friend.  Don't get me wrong, I am blessed with many friends.  People I work with that I adore, who get me through the day, and know more about me than most.  I have a core group of girls who I see once a month.  We have dinner, laugh, cry, share our lives and it has been amazing to watch us all ebb and flow.  Some of them have been with me through all the major milestones, tragedies and joys of my adulthood! I have some long time friends where the connection is just there and it is as though time stands still in between the phases where we talk and don't talk. 

And then there are online friendships.  The ones that seem the easiest to foster because you do it on your terms, when you can fit in that quick second.  You share your stories and look for support.  Those relationships are real and are solid.  I can just think about my CHA girls...there is a bond that is very strong.  Three years ago, I started traveling to see my Scrapstreet girls.  People who know me find it odd that I would fly out to spend a week with people I hardly know.  But I do know them.  And here is the thing, when you see people in short bursts like that, you are just happy to see them.  No judgements, only exceptance...you can be happy, annoying, grumpy or hyper...they are just happy to see you.  Having that clean slate is very liberating...it allow you to be the best you and if you are not, it's okay.

My time with these girls since CHA isn't what I want it to be, but that is okay, because it is unconditional.  At this point in life, unconditional is the only way to go!  So here's to my friends:

To them and all of my other girls, thanks for having me in your lives.  Daily or not, I couldn't live without you.

Grown Up

Recently, I have been thinking about how both of my kids are in school.  How can that be?  I have the extreme treat of having my son attend my elementary school.  I haven't seen him much, but when I do, it just brightens my day!  There is obviously a comfort level so I have been able to enjoy this week tremendously.  Ella is at the same preschool as Nathan was last year.  I have only received positive feedback...she goes with the flow, is quiet at times.....STOP!  what?  The girl who never stops talking, who stirs the pot at every minute.  I hope it lasts...LOL!

I made this layout using Nathan's Pre-K graduation pictures.  The school does it right with a ceremony and caps and gowns! 

I made this using Crate's Restoration line!  Wow, this stuff is gorgeous.  It is featured in The Nook September kit along with other amazing goodies like the yellow ribbon!  I love when you can find coordinating paper to go with the color of your photos.  I actually desaturated my photo a bit to dull down the blue and yellow.  I knew the Crate was more vintagy and distressed so I wanted it to go together.

Speaking of the yellow ribbon...here is a detail I created!

I have my scrappy energy back and it feels good to enjoy this hobby again!  I have been playing a bunch and will have lots of shares!!

Happy day!

Just a Week Ago

We were sitting in the sun, not a care in the world.  I was wondering if my kitchen would ever be done.  I was organizing things for school.

This week, Nathan and Ella started school.  Ella for the first time at Pre-K and Nathan at kindergarten.  Gosh, I was so emotional seeing him as a kindergartener.  Is that normal?  I am thrilled to watch both of them enter this world.  Without us.  So happy to see all our our work in action.  It is bittersweet.  I realize they are not totally independent as they are young.  But there are times were they need to be.  When I see them shining, my heart soars!

Here is a reminder of last week. 

I made this layout for my design class over at the Nook.  I shared all the basic principles after researching the web.  Debbie Hodges is a great source of inspiration for these design tips!  We have started our Sept. contest...amazing prizes so head over and join in!

Happy Thursday!