AROUND HERE

I'm excited about my 8 layouts I did at the crop Saturday!! Wishing for spring to come, SO READY Wanting to walk at the track, see comment above Sam has been reading non-stop, getting bonus reading points towards a field trip!! Rich made cookies again last night, that's 2 Sundays in a row I love seeing Kristin's beautiful face everyday, having her just BE HERE, still surprises me My Better Home and Garrden magazine finally came today, YIPPEE! Getting the hang of my PL pages, hey it only took me 6 weeks, ha! Enjoying my Mixed Emotions class Colt saying THANK YOU for every little thing, he's sooooo cute!! I LOVE HIM TO PIECES! Colt playing pretend eating, he smiles soooo big and happy when we play Seeing the BIG beautiful moon with Summer tonight after trip to Walmart Soccer sign-ups are here! Hoping to have a lunch date with hubby soon at Red Lobster Starting to plan Disney trip in April, YIPPEE!! Thankful for the sunshine and 40 temps today, LOVE THIS Hooked on Uncle Ben's chedder/broccoli rice, so good Thinking Feburary passed much faster then January, sigh Sienna and Colt playing hide/seek with each other, makes me laugh and feel so happy Thanks for reading, hope everyone has a good week, posting my PL in a couple days.

A FUN VALENTINE JOURNAL

Hello, I have something fun to share with you today. I've been soooo inspired by my creative and sweet friend Shahrul lately, she's been crafting up a storm lately. Lots of fun mini albums, hearts, fabrics, reds, pinks and more. Finally last week with 15mts till the kids got home from school I got to work. Pulling off anything red,heart, pretty, pink off my scrapspace and in my drawer and used some linen as the pages. There wasn't time to measure or make this perfect, this was pure fun and free which is always a favorite for me. I cut up some of the linen into pages and just added a little something pretty to each page. Later I will go back and add stitching around pages and thru some of the hearts. I'm hoping to add some pictures to this also and/or quotes and sentiments about Valentines/LOVE. This really was just what I needed and will do it again. Please stop by Shahrul's blog and see what she's been up too, just today she posted an altered paintbrush and it's gorgeous and fun! Thank you Shahrul for inspiring me and filling my world with COLOR and IMAINGNATION!! I couldn't get blogger to let me text under each picture, sorry for that. This is a busy end of week and I'm going to an all day crop at my church on Saturday which means PL will be late next week. Have a great weekend everyone. THANKS so much for all your sweet comments, they make my day!! HUGS!

PROJECT LIFE.....WEEK 7

Hello Project Life week 7!!! Wow, the days are just flying by now and will continue to fly. The kids are already counting down till the last day of school which isn't until June 6, can't believe it. Ok, let's get onto my PL page for this week. As you can see it's just a one pager, there wasn't enough pictures or stories for a double spread. I also wasn't feeling very creative and didn't have much time to work on this so short and sweet was the plan. Last weeks pages were so much fun and I still love looking at them and all the hearts/red going on so I did bring a little of that into this weeks too. The XOXO card is for Valentines Day, I wrote about our day on the back. Nothing special about this day, my car was in the shop, we went somewhere new for dinner and it was horrible so nothing good about this day. Also notice the first card with the hearts along the side, this is something I started last week and forgot to mention. For this month and hopefully for the year I want to include a LOVE card for my family each week, just a little note about something I noticed or love about them. It's my way of sharing my love for them and just a reminder for me to look for these things and jot them down. This idea came from a blog I read last year and really loved it. So that is it for this week's, you click on the image to see it better. Since this was a one pager kinda week it will be another one for this week so it will be easier and balanced out. I also want to give a shout out to all my PL readers, all of you are doing PL with your own stash and most of you not even using a core kit. WOW WOW WOW!! My hat goes off to you and how each week is uniquely made and takes time and effort. Now that I'm doing it this way too, it's amazing how you have kept doing this for a year and continue to for another year. Seriously, pat yourselves on the back and be proud. I just hope to keep up with you and for it to become easier each week. I had it so easy with the core kits, just slide in the pictures and do some writing and call it done. Now I plan and sketch and shift around photos and lots of cropping, etc. whew it is tiring but makes me more appreciative of the stories and my own personal touch to them. Thanks ladies, you are AMAZING AND WONDERFUL!!! Let's keeping cheering each other on. I will be posting a sweet little mini cloth journal I made inspired by my dear friend Shahrul, she's the one who inspired me to do those trees in December. Her blog is filled with reds/pinks/hearts right now too and I just had to play along. So come back in a couple days to see what I made. Blogger is giving me a hard time with pictures and the text, crossing my fingers this post works. Have a great day everyone!

Project Life....week 6 !!!!!

Hello Project Life!! WOW, can you believe it's week 6 already?? Seriously, I've been doing this mini version that long already, how awesome. These pages took a little time to figure out due to the heavy load of photos to fit in. What also thru me off was having that Day in the Life page ending on the right side so I didn't know at first how to start off the week. After some playing around and digging thru some old inserts this is what I came up with and I LOVE IT!! One new thing you see here is the 6x12 insert with the hearts on it, I will be doing this now to start each month off, no more running the months together in one week like before. I kinda like the idea of each month seperate this time. Just had to trim this cute heart die cut down to fit and put a title on it, how simple but awesome! Now on to the inside pages.

Here is the first page.... weekly date card, Sam's new card trick, still can't figure out how he does it. See the number 10 card, I had that all year in my core kit and never knew what to use it for. This was finally just what I needed to go with Sam's card trick photo, YES!! Lots of pink/reds going on for Valentine month, going with a theme all month long. LOVE THIS! Look at Lucky getting lots of love!

Here is the left side and the front of an old insert. We had Renee's birthday on Saturday and I wanted lots of photos. I went back to my favorites and did some 4x6 and 4x6 COLLAGE photos. It was sooooo nice to use this size again, not going to lie. Was super awesome not to crop all these photos but just slide them in and be done. Notice the use of my cut outs from Linda, love having these to play with. Also added some tiny text letters, a heart clip from the dollar bin at Target. I enjoyed filling up each pocket this time, telling each story and loving these so much. I told you it was a photo heavy week, so thankful that I have these photos and memories. Ready for more?!!

Here is the back of the insert... more birthday photos. I will have to do a birthday post sometime this week, it was a great day except that Sam got another flu virus again. On the left side is the last page for the week, it's mine and hubby's awesome date we had. Going to the Home and Garden Show has been on my list for 16 years and finally we got to go. I wanted to include as much as I could here. Squeezed in little mini collages I cut down to size. Some paper inserts and journaling about our day on the back of that first card. Will be doing a post about this day too, probably in a 2 post series since there is lots of photos. I'm so happy this weeks pages worked out for me. They are making me so happy and ready to move on to this weeks pages. Thanks for stopping by and for your awesome comments. Stay warm or/and cool wherever you live.

PROJECT LIFE .....WEEK 5

Hello PROJECT LIFE WEEK 5!! I'm sooooo excited about this week's pages. As you can see it's all about TAGS, LOTS OF TAGS!! This week's pages went in a few different directions before coming to this one. I was inspired by Laura Vegas, she did a cute page about her daughters crazy schedule durin an INSANE week of activities. I loved it so much and thought I'd do a spread about all that I do in a week. In the middle of this Ali Edwards announces her idea of "A Day in the Life" for the last day of the month. This made me switch gears and show it as a normal week for the whole family and Sam getting the flu in the middle of this too. What a crazy week it was but a good one for us to remember. I decided to go with the tags for the week except for Thursday "DITL" I included all those on the right side and on the back of that one. Was waiting for Ali to share her pages about this day and when she didn't just did my own thing. I almost put tags on the right side too, was going to do every other pocket with a tag but then decided to go for it with just photos. I also wrote on the pictures so I wouldn't have to use up pockets with journaling. My other thought is to just do a big collage on this last day every month, Ali's plan is to do this every month for the last day. At least I have a month to think about it and decide what works best. Ok so here is the full spread, now for closeups...

Here is the right page that started it all. I loved making these tags, they fit into the pockets so well. So like I said this was inspired by Laura, you can find her at http://lauravegas.typepad.com and her use on a Project Life page Protector and some fancy die cuts and typing. She didn't use tags but used cardstock she had which looks great too, they were creamy and that is how I thought of the tags. The best part is I added some tags together to make more room for pictures and jouraling, LOOOOVE THIS!! I used an old paperline from Simple Stories for some of the word strips and the little alphas for the days of week on each tag. Thought the page needed a couple photos on their own too and love these two I picked out. I hope your loving these tags too, can't say enough how easy and fun this was for me.

Here's the first double tag I made, aren't those "2" so cute. This is for the day of Colt and John's bday party. It was hard to pick just one photo and so I came up with this idea. Using just a little bit of paper tape to put two cards together and the top tag stays out of the pocket so it's a flip card one.

Here is the inside, 3 more photos to enjoy!! The little "awesome" tag is from dear friend Linda who mailed me some diecuts to use in my Project Life, thanks again Linda. You can see more of the die cuts on the other tags as well. So thankful and excited she did this for me. On the back of these tags I added my journaling about the party. LOVE LOVE this so much and will be doing it again. Here are two more times I did this double tag idea.

There you have it, a little more room for photos and jouranling. Now on to the right page, A DAY IN THE LIFE....

I thought starting it off with the daily tag like the other side is was fitting. On the back of it I wrote down what this day meant and what it was about. I've done this kinda DITL before and have hundreds of photos but not this time, not sure why. Some of the photos i took didn't work for this small pocket size and some just didn't come out good. Here are the best ones for this day and what tells our story the best. Not sure I like the writing on the photos now that I'm looking at it, probably won't do this again.

Here is the back page with more photos of our day and I ended it with a tag at the bottom. I added an insert here for the daily sheets that Ali provides us to use for writing down the notes/stories/prompts for this day. I love these sheets and they are a big help. Here is a closeup of them...

Finally glad to have this week posted and done! I'm starting on this week already and using pinks/reds/white to celebrate a month of LOVE/Valentines and a new idea that will be included in my weekly pages. Have a great weekend everyone, if you have questions let me know. Take a look at Laura's awesome page too please, you will have to scroll down a bit but it's labled as the INSANE WEEK, you can't miss it. Thanks Laura for the inspiration this week.

RIGHT NOW.... very random

Just thought I'd do a quick RIGHT NOW posts while ideas are fresh on my mind today. Hoping to post Project Life on Friday, need to take few pictures and don't have time to upload them and post them. Thank you sooooo much for the comments on my Colt's birthday post, he is such a cutie. I know my sentences won't space still not sure why but hope you enjoy this anyhow. 1. the sun has been out the last 2 days, LOVE THIS! 2. Sam just started a magic trick with cards and we can't figure it out, he loves this. 3. Renee will be the big SWEET 16 on Saturday ( she is so excited about it) 4. Rich has been busier then it's ever been at work (long tired days) 5. The snow won't quit coming, tired of shoveling and snowblowing 6. Sam has last bball games this weekend, it's been the least fun season we've had in 5 years 7. I'm over my head in projects, art, journaling, writing, etc. 8. So loving the OLW February prompt from Ali, it's so perfect for me right now 9. Rich and I had the best time ever at the Home & Garden Show on Sunday, waited 16 years to get there and so glad we made it. 10. decorated the house for Valentines and working on some Valentines. 11. We started our LOVE HEARTS and it's going well. Colt has been talking up a storm ( new words everyday and SMILES) 13. Sienna is still loving my Angie Girl stamp girls (lots of coloring) I think that' it for now, time to clean up paint and do some chores before kids home from school. Take care and HUGS TO ALL OF YOU!

COLT TURNS 2

It's official now, Colt is 2, how did this happen?? I keep thinking he should be one again, this year has flown by. No longer a baby but headed right into toddlerhood and hopefully not the terrible two's. This boy makes me smile and see JOY in the everyday. It's no secret that having another boy in the family and in my house part time is the BEST THING EVER!! A BOY, now I can do all those fun boy things that I did with Sam. Colt is so different from his sister, he plays different, smiles more (even to himself when playing) expresses with his eyes and hands ( he loves hands) so this turning two is a bit had to take. I soak him up while Sienna is at school since I know he will be going there soon and he's the last baby coming this way. So here's a little recap of his birthday that he shares with his newly adopted cousin John. I can't say enough how awesome it was to see these two together and how cute and funny they are. So glad they have each other and Sienna tries to take care of them and loves them both. I'm thankful that Keith and Liz could adopt this sweet boy and know he's a part of the family. I just have to say it, A BOY A BOY for us to love and see grow up. Hope you enjoy these pictures and the love that is in my family amazes me and fills my heart with love and gratitude for them. The lighting was kinda bad but these pictures still melt my heart.

Thank you Sonja for a wonderful birthday night filled with laughs, few tears, fun, FOOD and FAMILY! Colt wouldn't pose for any picutres, John was always running around and couldn't find him, John loved blowing out the candles, Colt not so much. Sienna and Sam ran and played the whole time. I had a great talk with Ingrid Jill and exchanged numbers so I can send her pictures of her beautiful niece&nephew. The video of pictures playing was the HIGHLIGHT of the night too (LOVE THIS) and I already know what next years present is going to be Sonja, wish I had thought of it this year. Happy Birthday Colt and John!! In one week we will be celebrating Renee's 16th birthday, where did the time go for this one. She is my BIRTHDAY QUEEN, always loves this day and parties in general. SOOOOOO excited for her and for me. Thanks for reading if you made it thru. Happy Weekend!