Consider the Lilies

Art Wall & Summer Fun

2011-08-15T14:11:00.003-06:00

I promised you all an update after I hung the wire art hangers I got from Ikea. I only got 2 packages of clips and wished I had more, but overall I'm thrilled with how it turned out. On my next trip I'll pick up a few more clips. Be sure and let me know what you think!

The kids helped me pick out their favorite pieces of art. I have all of their art folders from all of their school years, so it was fun for us to look back through them. If/when I get more clips, I'll probably add a couple more pieces of art and change things around a bit. For now, I'm happy with it, and happy that some of the kids' art is on display.

Here are a couple other things that have been keeping us busy. We took a trip to Lagoon (a small amusement park outside Salt Lake City, Utah.) The kids had fun and we survived the heat! Here are a few pictures. If you want to see anything better, just click on the picture to enlarge it.

Lagoon has a super old wooden roller coaster. The kids didn't believe us when we told them it was probably 50 years old and then we saw this poster that said it was built in 1921!!

We were planning to head home Saturday morning (it's about a 5-hour drive from Salt Lake to Boise) but my cousin got us some VIP passes to Park City, so we headed up there and had a BLAST!

The kids did the bungee-trampolines (I'm making that name up. I have no idea what they're called!) and we all did the alpine coaster and alpine slide. Mike and I also did the zip-line, but the kids didn't weigh enough. We had a terrific time up there.

A week later, I took the boys down to spend a few days with my dad and step-mom in Idaho Falls. The raspberries were on, so the boys spent some quality time with my dad in what we like to call "The Raspberry Jungle" because the canes are taller than all of them. Dad included! They also helped my dad pick all of the cherries off his little tree. I can't believe how many cherries were on that tree! We got to bring home some of the fruits of our labor. Yum!

I didn't get any pictures of the boys in the raspberries this year, but here are a couple from a few years ago to give you an idea of why we call it the "Raspberry Jungle."

And here are a few pictures of the boys picking cherries with my dad.

Grandpa gave the boys a lesson on proper cherry-picking technique. Pull up and leave the stems on!

I'll be back in a few days to share some cards.

Baby Shower Gifts

2011-08-10T12:00:00.000-06:00

My little sister had another baby in May. She's my second niece and her name is Catherine Jane. It's all I can do to not steal her every time I see her. She's delish. Here's a picture from just a couple of weeks ago. I think the only person who wants to steal her as much as I do is Mason.

Well, in preparation for my sister's baby shower, I got my craft on and made some super cute things for this little angel. Let's take a peek, shall we? Don't die from the cuteness!

I think she's already outgrown the little yellow hat, but the other two and the booties she'll have to grow into. All of these projects turned out so cute. I can't wait to see them all on her!

Another project completed

2011-08-05T15:40:00.002-06:00

Another project that has kept me busy around the house was a little "Sprucing Up" in our basement. We updated the paint and furniture for not a lot of money, but it sure made a big difference in how it looks! Check it out for yourself! Before:

Ok. Embarrassing. What a mess! It actually gets much much worse than that on a regular basis since the only time I go down there is to get into my craft room. Whew! Look away. Here's how it looks now.

Much better, although part of it is just because the garbage is picked up off the floor!! We still have a couple of small changes we're going to make down there, and this week when I was in Salt Lake I made a trip to Draper to hit IKEA. I got these and these and Mike's going to install them tonight. Then I'm going to use them to hang my kids' artwork on the walls. That should make it look even better. I'll try to remember to post an update with the art on the walls.

Our latest project is the laundry room. Here's the before:

It was driving me absolutely bonkers that I could never get through the room because of all of the coats and backpacks and shoes and laundry, so our plan is to stack up the washer and dryer and move them into the far corner on the same wall where they are now. Then put floor-to-ceiling cabinets along the wall where the washer & dryer are now. We sold the bench & cubby unit on Craig's List, tore out the floor, stripped the wall paper, and here's how it looks now.

And my husband regularly looks like this:

Progress is slow, but I have hope. As with any project, things keep coming up. Things besides the kids and swim team and camping and swim meets and summer and spring and winter and fall. Things like the fact that the only access to our crawl space is behind the cabinets in my craft room. See:

That means that any time we need to access the crawl space I have to empty out the cabinet and move everything off my desk so we can tear down the cabinet. And then when we're done in there I have to completely re-assemble my craft room. With moving the washer and dryer we're going to have to move the plumbing and electrical and knew we'd need to have easier access to the crawl space, which resulted in this:

Yes. We cut a hole in the floor of our house and moved the crawl space access to the floor of the closet in our office. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it was a project the took us two days to finish. Two days of Mike in the crawl space yelling at me, and me in the office yelling down at him. Not yelling AT each other, but yelling was the only way we could hear each other! Here's how it looks now:

Well, it mostly looks like that. All of the stuff is back in the closet, so you can't see the floor, but under it all I know it looks like this. And no matter how much stuff we pile in there, it's always going to be easier to move than completely disassembling my craft room. Nice, huh? My husband is a bit of a stud muffin. I swear the man can do a.ny.thing. So, now that we have easier access to the crawl space, AND the laundry room is stripped down to bare walls and subfloor, all we need now is time. And if you think I don't have enough time for blogging, you should see where the laundry room reno is on the list. I will say that every sliver I get in my feet from the bare subfloor moves it a little further up on the list. I'll be sure to post pics when it's done, or at least as we make progress. Here's what I'm hoping for when we're done.

Maybe a little brighter, but something along those lines.

Christmas Tree Skirt

2011-08-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

I've been working on making a new Christmas Tree skirt for about the last 400 years. I got the skirt itself finished the year I started and then had brain block on how to finish the outside edge. And so it sat. And sat. And sat. For about 5 years. This year I was determined I was NOT putting up my tree until the new skirt was finished. As luck would have it, a friend of mine started working at my favorite quilting store this year. So I dropped in and pleaded for her to help me. Well, in just a few minutes she was able to get me going again and I finished my skirt and it was beautiful under my tree this year. Here's how it turned out.

Posh Pillowcases

2011-07-29T12:00:00.000-06:00

I think the thing that got me so excited to make display samples this year was that I did a LOT of sewing, crochet, and general crafting for Christmas gifts last year. Although I realize it's almost time to start thinking about Christmas for this year, maybe that means its a good time to give you some ideas you could start on now. I'm going to show you some of the projects I made last year for gifts.

The first project was pillowcases. I saw these fancy pillow cases online and made a BUNCH for gifts for all my family this year. Hope you like them.

Convention Displays - Spice Cake

2011-07-26T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are the display items I made for the Convention display boards using the new Spice Cake fabric from the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog. I think this was my favorite fabric! The first project is an apron.

I used the Big Shot Fabric Adhesive roll and the Tasteful Trim die to add the ric-rack accent to the pocket.

Here's how it looks on.

I also made matching pot holders and dish towels.

This whole set of projects turned out so darling. Well, I hope you've enjoyed a peek at my projects. These are the last of my Convention display samples. Hopefully I can stay on this roll and keep posting, but I'm not making any promises! If you stop by, please leave a comment! I'd love to know you were here.

Convention Displays - Holly Berry Bouquet

2011-07-25T12:00:00.017-06:00

Here are some pictures of the Convention display samples I made using the new Holly Berry Bouquet fabric from the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog. This fabric is so beautiful and I was overwhelmed with the possibilities of what I could make. I finally decided to make a Christmas table runner and it turned out so beautifully! Here's the full table runner. It was about 45" long. Hopefully you can see that I quilted it.

Here's a close-up of the details and the quilting. The center section was left un-quilted.

And here it is on display at convention. The folded it up, so it looked more like a placemat.

Convention Displays - Beau Chateau

2011-07-24T12:00:00.015-06:00

Here are the pictures of my Convention display samples with the Beau Chateau fabrics. I think this was my favorite sample and the one I'm saddest that I won't get back! I guess that just means I'll have to make another one to keep. Along with my elephant and craft tote. And all the other projects!!

This project is a reversible purse. I absolutely loved how it turned out. I used the rooster fabric on one side and the blue fabric with the floral pattern from the Elements of Style stamp set on the other side. On the rooster side of the bag I made two fabric yo-yos for the closure as you can see in the next picture.

Here it is on the display board at convention. It's on the bottom right.

Convention Displays - Deck the Halls

2011-07-23T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures of my Convention display samples using the Deck the Halls fabrics. I made a "Merry Christmas" banner using the new Perfect Pennants die.

I cut the large and small pennants from two of the fabrics and the medium pennant from muslin. Then I layered them and attached it to twill tape by stitching along the top. For the letters, I didn't have any fabric that was close to Cherry Cobbler color, so I ironed the Big Shot Adhesive Roll material onto a strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock and then cut the letters out with my Billboard Alphabet die and Big Shot. Then I ironed the letters onto the pennants. Worked like a charm and it turned out super cute! I stitched a jingle bell onto the point of each pennant and tied it with Artichoke Seam Binding.

Here it is on display at Convention:

Another Elephant and Craft Tote

2011-07-22T12:00:00.000-06:00

After I hit "publish" on yesterday's post I was wondering if I ever showed you the other elephant and craft tote I made last year. My BFF's birthday is usually around convention (it was Tuesday this week!) and last year I took these to convention with me to give her as a birthday gift. These are identical to what I showed yesterday, but with different fabrics. Of course, right AFTER I gave these to her, SU! announced they were going to start carrying fabric, which means hers aren't made from SU! fabrics.

Convention Displays - Sweet Stitches

2011-07-21T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are the projects I made for the Convention display boards using the Sweet Stitches fabrics. My first project was an elephant pincushion. He's SOOO cute!!

I also made a matching craft tote. I love these! Of course I don't have an elephant or a craft tote. What is it they say about the cobbler's kids?

And here they are on display at convention. Sadly, my elephant was falling through the wire shelf! I wanted so badly to rescue him.

Convention Displays - Candy Cane Christmas & Springtime Vintage

2011-07-20T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures of the Convention display samples I made using the Candy Cane Christmas and Springtime Vintage fabrics. I'm combining these two fabrics since the projects were on the same board at Convention. First, Candy Cane Christmas fabric buckets:

I used the Fabric Adhesive Roll to cut out the butterflies and letters with my Big Shot and then ironed them onto the projects before assembling them. The fabric adhesive roll is super versatile and makes it easy to add fun accents to your projects.

For this project I used some frames I had on hand and my dear, sweet, helpful, darling husband painted them white for me. Then I put the fabric in the frames behind the glass, along with some die-cut letters in coordinating colors. Then you can use a dry-erase marker or water-soluble marker to write on the glass like a dry-erase board. These would be darling in someone's craft room!

And here are the projects on display at Convention. The buckets are at the bottom on the left and the memo boards are on the top shelf.

Convention Displays - Flirtatious

2011-07-19T12:00:00.001-06:00

Here's the project I made for the convention display boards using the Flirtatious fabric.

I made this cute top for the display boards, but when I got to convention it wasn't on display. I was disappointed because I thought it turned out so darling! I happened to mention it to the gal who coordinated the displays this year and she told me to check in the VIP lounge. Well, sure enough! It was there. I'm sorry not everyone at convention got to see it, but here's a picture of it on display:

Hope you like it!

Stampin' Up! Convention Display Samples

2011-07-18T11:17:00.000-06:00

I got SO much flack at Convention this week about the fact that my blog still had pictures from Thanksgiving! Ok! Enough already, people! My life is BUSY!! Although I regularly take pictures with the intention of posting them here, life gets in the way and then 6 months have gone by.

Anyhoo. I do want to share with you some exciting news. For those of you who don't know, I was selected by Stampin' Up! to create display samples for convention this year. At Stampin' Up! Regionals in Boise this year, I approached Donna Griffith (from SU!) and told her I'd be willing to create some sewing samples if they needed any help. She took my business card and I got an email from SU! the next week asking me for some pictures of sewing projects I've done. I sent them some pictures and they asked me to do samples! Woo Hoo! So over the next week or two I'll post a different sample every day. I got to make samples with ALL of the fabric, so I think there are about 15 samples. I'll group them by fabric type so I don't keep you waiting quite so long. I'm certain the anticipation is killing you. Right? And since I just got back from convention, I'll include pictures of my projects on the display boards.

The first samples I'm going to share use the Timeless Portrait fabric. I made a reversible vest and matching bow tie and a party dress.

And here they are on display at convention! It makes me so happy to see my stuff on display. It's all I can do not to stand there and point out my projects to everyone! He he he he. People get annoyed when I do that. Go figure.

I hope you liked these projects. I'll be back tomorrow to show you the next set.

Thanksgiving Break

2011-01-09T12:00:00.011-07:00

In an effort to cut costs, the school district increased the kids' Thanksgiving Break from 2 1/2 days to 5 days this year. That meant we had a full week and two weekends to hang out, so we hit the road and drove to Pocatello, ID, to visit my in-laws. Oh yes. We know how to live it up! We left on Friday before Thanksgiving when the kids got out of school. We had nice dry roads on the way down, but the next day we woke up to this:

It was a winter wonderland and it snowed all day on Saturday. The kids spent a little time playing in it, but we weren't really prepared for so much snow and I didn't think to bring their snow pants, so they got really wet. And cold. Thankfully we did have gloves and hats.

As you can see, I was unwilling to leave the comfort of the house to get any real pictures of them in the snow. I'm not crazy after all. :O)

There's only so much entertainment to be gleaned from a snowstorm when you have no snow pants, so we loaded everyone up and hit the local kid-haunt. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was similar to Wahooz in Boise. The kids played arcade games and miniature golf and then cashed in their tickets for a pile of junk that we got to haul home. Fun times.

They did have fun though and it did get them and us out of the house for a few hours. All in all, I count it as a successful day. The next day was Sunday and the forecast was for more snow, but we had to get home so Mike could be to work on Monday. Here's how things looked on the way home.

Not great. We white knuckled it home and arrived safely, but it took a little longer than normal. As I'm sure you can imagine.

We've had such a strange Fall this year. The weather got so cold so fast that the trees didn't drop their leaves. So the next day this is what our yard looked like. We still had a LOT of leaves to rake, IF they'd ever drop off the trees!!

I absolutely love this tree and the color it provides in the Fall. I was afraid some of the branches would break off from the weight of the snow and the leaves. I'm somewhat happy to report that at press time all of the leaves are finally off the tree and the city was nice enough to pick them up with the Christmas trees this year (since we completely missed the curbside leaf pick up this year). We weren't the only ones with New Year's leaf bags. We had 3 or 4 bags of leaves to put out this week but I think our neighbors had 8 or 10! This wasn't the only excitement in the Slaughter House over Thanksgiving Break. I'll be back with more of the breath-taking play by play soon. Promise.

Christmas Bulb Wreath

2011-01-07T12:00:00.002-07:00

I'm pretty sure that all of these Christmas Idea posts would have been much more helpful to all of you before Christmas. You'll just have to bookmark them and pull them out in September! :O) I'm going to just go ahead and admit right here on the internet that I read WAY too many blogs. I think I like looking for inspiration more than I like using that inspiration to do fun things. Call me crazy. Anyway, I almost always use the inspiring blogs I read as a jumping off point for things I do. Call me lazy. So I when I say in every blog post that I found the idea on someone's blog, you can bet your bottom dollar it's true. And you can even know that even if I don't say that, I still probably found it on someone's blog. It's just the way it is. Well, I first saw this idea here. Then I saw it here. And they both saw it here. After a while, resistance was futile. So I started with these ornaments.

I got them at Target for $15 for all of them. They're plastic, which is nice, except I think the tops on the plastic ones break easier than the metal tops on the glass bulbs. I may have to try a wreath with glass bulbs and see if it's easier. Although the plastic tops are on pretty tight, I did follow the directions and put a dab of hot glue on each one, just to be sure. The issues I had weren't with the tops popping off the bulbs, it was more with the plastic tops breaking where the wire went through. It wasn't a huge deal. I'd just hot glue the bulbs back where I wanted them and they were fine. Anyway, here's the end result.

I loved that some of the bulbs had glitter on them and some of the smaller ones had glitter dots and stripes on them. Doesn't it look cute on my craft room floor? Because I can't believe I didn't get one single picture of it up in my house! Ack! I'll have to take a picture next year since it's all packed away till next year. When I went back and looked at the inspiration wreaths again I love love love the ones with the muted tones and pink in them. I'll have to keep an eye out for some ornaments in those colors. It's hard to find something amazing that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I did tie a big red bow on the top of mine and I just used the hanger hook to hang it from. DH put a nail in the top of the molding above the window in the kitchen and it hung nicely from the hanger hook.

When I was in the process of finishing up my wreath, I had to take a break to work on this:

Isn't he adorable!?! As part of the curriculum in 3rd grade, the kids do a lesson on immigration. As part of that lesson, they have to research their heritage and make a clothespin figure to represent someone from their family. Then they give their little person a name and write a story about how they came to America. Mason decided to do his project on our American Indian heritage and so we worked on this little Indian man. I think he called him Straight Arrow or something equally adorable. I "helped" Mason make his clothes, headdress, bow and little quiver full of arrows. It was a fun project and Mason was so proud of how he turned out!

All of the little people were on display in the classroom for a week or two. Some of the stories were so touching. One little girl who was adopted from China made the most beautiful doll and her story made me cry. It was a great lesson for all of them to learn about where everyone came from. At the end of the week they wrap things up with an immigration simulation. They have to pretend they're on a boat in steerage and eat dry crackers as they sail to Ellis Island. At the end some of them are too "sick" with fake diseases to be admitted to the US. The teachers are careful to choose kids who won't be too upset by the disappointment, but it's a good lesson for all of the kids and they have a blast.

Christmas Planner

2011-01-05T12:00:00.004-07:00

A while back I saw a project someone had done and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I'm a bit of a planner/listmaker/organizer type and my mind was just spinning with all of the possibilities. So here's what I came up with.

I basically followed the instructions from the site where I got the idea. I used some old Basic Grey paper that I've been ~~hoarding~~ saving for something special. I really liked the bird on the front cover, but then it ended up getting covered up by the circles. I sponged all of the edges of the paper with Basic Black classic ink and I tied a black grosgrain ribbon around the spine. The inspiration site recommended tying the book shut to protect it from curious little eyes. I didn't want the tie to smash the labels on the edge, so I used threats instead.

I basically told the kids that if they looked in my planner, Santa wouldn't come. That was enough to keep prying eyes away. :O) The tabs I used are Lists, Calendar, Cards, Menu, To Do, and Gifts. I had two extra tabs. I may end up using those for lists because my Lists section almost filled up this year. It's a sickness. The tabs are just scraps of the same patterned paper that I punched out with a 1 1/4" square punch and then folded in half. I stapled them onto 3 sheets of paper so they'd be less likely to tear and I left 10 pages between each tab.

I also put manilla envelopes inside the front and back covers for receipts and coupons. I didn't put the year on the front of mine. That way I can use it for several years. I'm not sure where I'm going to keep this, but I do know that I'll probably use it to jot down gift ideas all year long. It got a LOT of use in the past couple of months!

Busy as a Bee

2011-01-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hopefully by now you all know that I'm pretty much a "hit and miss" blogger. I blog when I have time and when I don't, well, you all know how that goes. I do have to admit that every time I make something crafty or yummy I think to myself that I should put it on my blog. But then life gets in the way and it doesn't happen.

A while back my girlfriend, Gina, and I had coffee (which we don't do enough!) and she was giving me a hard time about not blogging. When I told her I just don't have time to sit and edit the pictures, she recommended batch processing. Well, today is the day I finally tried it, and let me tell you, I may be a more prolific blogger because of it! Woo Hoo! It rocked my world tonight! As a result, I'm going to post some of the crafty creations (and yummy ones too) that have kept me from blogging! I was SO busy before Christmas cranking out crafty goodness. Hopefully there's still someone out there who cares! I may even tell you every minute detail of our Disney World trip. Soon you'll all be sorry I discovered batch photo processing and "unfollow" my blog because I'm boring you with every detail of my life! HA! I'll try to restrain myself.

Anyhoo. I'm going to start with something I made in October. I started thinking about the holidays and my girlfriend, Carrie, made the cutest wreath with the Christmas paper from the Holiday mini. I can't remember the name and since it's all retired now I'm not even going to go look it up. I copied her wreath and then thought it was so cute I made one for my sister for her birthday! I think they're adorable, but I'll let you be the judge.

The first one is the one I made for me! I love the colors in that paper and the shiny glitter in some of the patterns. The wreath is made using the Candy Wrapper die. I made 17 (I think) candy wrappers in all of the different patterned papers and then I glued the flat edges together with my trusty glue gun. It was pretty sturdy, but just to make sure it didn't fall apart, I cut a circle out of the fiberboard the comes on the back of a package of DSP and glued it to the back. It's white, so it didn't show much. I added lots of fun embellishments including ribbons, buttons and brads and lots of the snowflakes from the long die in the Holiday mini. In the interest of my new "fast" blogger style, I'm not looking this stuff up. If you have a question you can email me. k?

This is the wreath I made for my sister. She likes more vintagey (yes, I made that word up) things, so this paper was more her style and she loooved it. She had it on a darling little shelf in her apartment and it just looked so adorable!

And now, just cause I can add so many more photos at the touch of a photoshop elements button, I share with you an exciting event in the lives of my kids.

In September, Idaho got it's first Apple store. Such a fun place. The only problem is, we took the kids the day after it opened and now they BEG us to go every week after church so they can play with all of the new toys! Egads!

I'm pretty sure we could drop them off every morning and pick them up when the mall closes and they'd be in hog heaven. They LOVE the iPads. It's just a bigger version of the iPod touches they use all the time at home and they have so much fun on it. Jordan has mastered Angry Birds and the big boys have fun playing air hockey. Crazy times. The computer I used in high school required DOS programming. I'm just saying. Now if only Verizon and Apple would get with the program and offer a Verizon iPhone. Soon. Hopefully soon.

I Celebrate The Day

2010-12-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

Didja Miss Me?

2010-11-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hey, blog peeps! I've thought about y'all so much you wouldn't believe it. I was inspired to update my blog after having coffee with my girlfriend, Gina last week. I told her my biggest blogging obstacle was resizing all of my pictures and she, being the photog genius that she is, told me I could "batch process" my pictures and do them all at once. Woo Hoo! So I'm investigating how to do that in iPhoto and hopefully that's going to result in me blogging more often. I have so many things to tell you all about and so many fun craft projects to share, but for today I'm going to start by sharing a fun fun fun giveaway, cuz who can't use free stuff this time of year?

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
Peace and healthy relationships. Right now there's some "tension" between my dad and me. My wish is for restored relationship.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
The kids always wake up SUPER early. We read the Christmas Story from Luke, then we open stockings and gifts and then have waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
A Verizon iPhone! Not that decadent, but it's my biggest wish this year.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
I have Lisa Whelchel's advent book and it's amazing. It has great ideas of things to do with the kids every day and I love the family "togetherness" it builds. The activities don't usually require any money, but they help keep our focus on the real meaning of Christmas - Christ's birth.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
A lot of card games. Monopoly, Clue, Mind?? What was the one with the colored pegs and you had to guess the order of the other guy's pegs? Mind something. Oh, and Battleship.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
The waffles for breakfast on Christmas is a tradition from my childhood. For several years we (anyone who was at our house on Christmas Eve) all went caroling around the neighborhood. The past few years there have only been me, my hubby and kids and my mom, so we haven't done it, but it's something we did when I was a kid and I love it!

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?
Hawaii! I think it would be so fun to spend some time somewhere tropical in the dead of winter!

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
I think the new Kinect gaming system looks like a blast. I heard a really interesting segment on Science Friday on NPR last week about the science behind it. Fascinating!! My kids have their eyes on the new Toy Story games and I'd love to have the Wii Fit stuff.

For your own chance to win some fun fun stuff, head over to Today's Mama to find out how to enter. Fun times! I hope to be back soon with a "real" blog post. Until then, best wishes for the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Remembering

2010-09-11T21:54:00.000-06:00

Today I spent some time remembering the events of 9/11. I've intended for some time to make a scrapbook page about where I was and what I felt as I watched the events of that day unfold. I've been doing a little digital scrapbooking lately and decided today was the day.

I found the images online and added my own thoughts. The journaling reads:

I don’t remember where I was when Kennedy was shot, or when Elvis died. But I do remember where I was when the terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I got up that morning and got on the treadmill to walk for a few minutes and when I turned on the TV they were just breaking in to regular programming with pictures of the first tower that had been hit. At that point they thought it was an accident. Somehow, a commercial airliner had crashed into the tower. They must have been off course somehow. The pictures were startling and everyone was in shock. And then, to our horror, as we watched, it happened again. Another plane came into the shot and we saw it hit the second tower. Anyone who was watching knew then it was more than an accident. But what? Nothing like this had ever happened before. Who would do something like this? And the terror didn’t stop there. The Pentagon was hit and then another plane crashed. Speculation was that it was headed for the White House. Little did we know how much the events of that day would change our country, and our lives. The images we saw that day will stay with us forever. The horror of knowing people were so terrified they jumped to their deaths. The hundreds of emergency responders who lost their lives because they rushed in to help. The 911 calls we heard from people at the top of the buildings. . . It’s hard now, 9 years after the fact, to even remember how different things were then, but they were. We didn’t worry as much. We didn’t have to hear every day about the troops who die in the Middle East because of what happened on that day. We didn’t see the kinds of security we see now, everywhere - at the mall, at the football game, in the airport, at school. The events of that day left a scar on our country. A scar that has healed a little over time, but anyone with a scar knows that the deeper the cut, the less likely it will disappear completely. And the scars left on that day will never disappear. Our country is changed forever. It makes me sad that my kids will never know a world before 9/11. Dawson was 2. Mason was barely conceived (we didn’t even know it yet, but would later that week.) I wish they could know that our country wasn’t always this scarred. That we didn’t used to look at so many people with suspicion. That there was a time where the thought of something so horrific had not even crossed our minds. I pray that their faith will protect them from the fear and that they will know that God was there with the 2,752 men and women who lost their lives that day. And that even though we can’t understand how anyone could do something like this, He is still God and we are in His hands no matter what the world around us looks like. And if we let it, His perfect love can cast out all our fear. Journaled on 9/11/10

A letter to Verizon . . .

2010-07-18T20:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Verizon,
I've tried so hard to be patient with you. Really. I have. I keep thinking that if I give you long enough, you'll come to your senses and hook up with Apple. Well, I just need you to know that my patience is waning. I'm tired of waiting for you. I've held out for years now, but I won't wait much longer. As much as I love you, I love apple more. That's really what it comes down to. So, this is my one last plea to you to cometoyoureverlovingsenses and do the right thing. You're great, but you're not so great I won't pack my bags and leave. And you should know that the day is coming. Soon. I will have an iPhone. By the end of the year. With or without you. Don't make me choose. You won't be happy with my decision. This is your last chance to DO THE RIGHT THING!
Love,
Britiney

For all of you cry babies who have the iPhone 4. This video is for you:

Birthday Card & Other Stuff

2010-04-17T16:47:00.000-06:00

Mason had a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so I made a card for him to take. This is a clean and simple card and I like how it turned out, but I'm most proud of the fact that I finally broke out of my birthday card rut and made something new!

I was inspired by this card. I decided to pull out the retired-but-soon-to-return Pacific Point card stock and matching ribbon. I actually don't think I'd used ANY of this ribbon before today. The roll looked brand new. So glad I'll have another chance to use it up!

This week my girlfriend, Carrie, and I took our kids to Build-a-Bear so Jordan could stuff the dog Samantha got him for his birthday. Of course we documented the outing and I thought I'd share a few pics with you from our adventure.

Here is Jordan making a wish on his dog's heart before putting it in the dog's tummy.

Then his dog got a bath. He had several baths over the course of the time we were there. :O)

Then Jordan picked out a Boise State Broncos t-shirt for his dog.

Jordan *LOVES* his husky dog. This is just one of many husky puppies he has. They're all a family. The new dog is bigger than the others so he's the "grandpa" husky puppy.

These are the little love birds. :O)

Here's where we got off track. Carrie and I took our Stampin' Up! Build-a-Bears so we could pick out some clothes for them. Our children were largely unsupervised while Carrie and I oooooh'd and ahhhhhh'd over the cute clothes. Me more than Carrie since she has two girls. he he he. This is my bear in her darling purple dress and schmancy pink rhinestone sunglasses.

Here's Carrie with her bear. If you'd like to read a super entertaining version of this story, be sure to hop on over to Carrie's blog. She's a nutjob!

Here are our bears with their aprons on, ready to head out to a workshop! They're going to tag-team demonstrate, because they're BFF's!

Here they are all ready to go out for a night on the town! So cute!

Okay, one last picture. I took Jordan with me this morning to get new tires on my car. It ended up taking entirely too long, so he and I had to find a way to occupy ourselves. What better way than walk to Starbucks! He's a little man after my own heart!

My mother-in-law usually sends the boys McD's bucks or BK bucks for valentine's day. This year she sent the family a Starbucks gift card. We had a fun time taking the boys to Starbucks and they were so excited to pick out a yummy drink. Jordan had the Double Chocolate Chip cream frappuccino. So now every time I stop for a coffee he begs to get a "Chocolate Coffee." Today, his wish came true. :O)

A Color Renovation!!

2010-04-08T09:41:00.001-06:00

Stampin' Up! announced this week that they're making a COLOR RENOVATION!! I'm so excited about some of the new colors and some of the old colors that are coming back! There are 5 brand new colors that will be part of the core group of colors and color families and there will be 5 more new In-Colors announced next month!! YAY!!!

Here's a look a the new Color Collections:

Here's a look at the colors that are retiring. You'll want to be sure to stock up on these. Be sure to stock up on card stock and make sure you have re-inkers in your favorite colors!! These colors will only be available until the end of June:

I'm SO excited about this change. Although there are a few retiring colors I'll certainly miss, I *LOVE* the new colors and am so glad to see some of my favorite retired In-Colors return. I can't wait to see them all in person. If you'd like to see them in person, be sure to check out the class schedule on my Demonstrator Website. My Ladies' Night Out is next Wednesday and is just $5. I also have a Birthday Card Stamp-a-Stack scheduled for Saturday, April 24th. At both of these events we'll be previewing some of the great new products from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalog! Be sure to call or email me to reserve your spot. I can't wait to see you!

Occasions Mini Swaps

2010-03-25T16:40:00.015-06:00

There were a few more participants in the Great Swaps Girls Occasions Mini Catalog swap. And as always, their cards didn't disappoint!

Sorry about the picture on this one. Somehow I got a shadow on the right hand side. Trust me that the card is perfect! It's just my photography skills that are lacking! This card was made by Sherri Barron. I'm always a sucker for pink and brown and I love how she combined them on this card. I especially like the pink houndstooth pattern and the tiny chocolate dotted pattern on the bottom. This would definitely make a great Mother's Day card.

This card was made by Kimberly Meyers. The Saffron and Soft Suede are beautiful together. This would be a beautiful wedding or graduation card.

This card was made by Amy O'Neill. It uses the new With All My Heart stamp set. I love the color combination she chose, and I'm always a sucker for Basic Grey. Even more so with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder!

Mercedes Weber made this card and I can hardly stand the cuteness of that little raccoon with the glittery heart. Although it's hard to see in the picture, she even took extra care to make sure the glitter didn't cover the raccoon's little hands. SO CUTE!!

This last card was made by Arin Burdo. I love love love how she combined the glittery paper and the shimmer paint! So so gorgeous!

Thanks for sharing all of your hard work, ladies! It's always a thrill to see your amazing creations!