Happy Halo Halloween!

Ok so Brett is home, and one day when he called to say "hey" to the kids Jimmy was crying over a bad day at school. Brett asked him if he needed to play Halo for medicinal purposes. Jimmy turned to me and asked "What is medicinal purposes, Mom?" Once I explained it, Jimmy was ecstatic. He LOVES playing video games with Brett. So right now Jimmy is cleaning up his room in preparation for some Halo time with his daddy. We're so glad to have Brett home. I keep hugging and kissing on him because he's really here!!

Wanted to share a few things before we have our family time.

I did this layout about Joey for a 2Peas Weekly Challenge. It was to use a lot of photos. I grabbed a lot of photos of Joey, dumped them in Photoshop, changed them to black and white, and printed them out as one big photo. Take a million photos of your kids, there is NEVER such a thing as too many photos. I promise. :)




(Katelyn pointed out that in nearly every photo he was smiling--and yes he was usually smiling--sweet boy!)

This next layout is sort of about Joey too. I wanted to use the Faith Album Elements from Little Yellow Bicycle to document some of my feelings and beliefs on seeing my son again. (NOTE: the die cut flowers are from Quickutz and the title was also cut with my Quickutz machine--love it!!)



These cards are using some of the Album Elements Tablets from LYB plus some new Clear Cut shapes. Darling!!

Well, I need to clean the house, do some grocery shopping, and maybe work while the kids and Dad play Halo (I'm so NOT good at video games, although, Jimmy did invite me to play. LOL!).

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!!

Yeee-haw!!

So I dressed up for Jimmy's Halloween Parade yesterday. Does a jeans jacket, a cowboy hat, and a bandana count? ;) I actually braided my hair too, which I haven't done in YEARS. It took a bit for me to remember. (Katelyn doesn't like her hair braided ever.)

Been recooperating and playing catch up with work and housework since Savannah. Vacations are great but being back home is also great. Brett traveled out to San Francisco for work so it's been the kiddos and I all week. He'll be home tonight.

Weird health thing. I have an earache and sore throat on one side. I wonder if I have one swollen gland that is irritating that side. But it hurts. :( Hopefully it will go away, sometimes it happens for with me allergies. Dumb allergies.

Here's a couple of layouts I worked on using some Little Yellow Bicycle stuff. These both come from their new Album Elements tablets, which are GORGEOUS!!



And I've already seen some of the next release for Little Yellow Bicycle. All I can say is "set aside some money NOW" because you're going to need ALL of it!! They keep outdoing themselves. Seriously!!
Just a couple of things. I wanted to point a crazy awesome opportunity at 2Peas to win $600 worth of American Crafts Thickers (letter stickers). All you have to do is purchase 10 or more packages of Thickers by tomorrow night, and you'll be entered in the drawing. And the Thickers are 25% off right now so DOUBLE bonus!! You can read the details here.
Well, I'd better go feed the dude. We're off school today so we're going to take it easy (at least the kids are--I'm going to work on some deadlines).
Hugs to you and yours!!
I'm Alive!!


I made it--on all four flights!! With lots and lots of praying and some sedatives I was able to be coherent, and complete the flights without losing my lunch or passing out. In fact, I was pretty relaxed. I am SO, SO grateful!! I wouldn't say that I love flying, but to know that I can do it again makes me so happy I can't even express it. I hate having things control my life and facing my biggest fear was just amazing!!

We loved visiting Savannah again. Here are some reasons why:

An art school that hosts its own film festival, and BIG names come. (No we missed it by one week.)

Streets that still have cobblestones from its founding!



Forsyth Park. WHOA!!

Wildlife at the beach.

Lunch at the Crab Shack!

Things I do NOT miss: evil sand knats. :(

We were able to see some of our lovely friends from three years ago, including Joey's best friend, Michael, which was a difficult but sweet visit. I had so many other friends I wanted to see, but two days just doesn't give you nearly enough time to do it all. So hugs to you! (And Julie, you'd better post a smiley face when you read this.)

Thank you for all your sweet and supportive thoughts. I was scared to death, and I am SO happy to be back at home again!

That May Not Be That Scary--but I'm TERRIFIED of
What I'm About to Do!!

Katelyn carved that cute pumpkin at her church Young Women group last night. She's amazing!!

But I'm going to get on a plane tomorrow and that is my GREATEST FEAR!!

I'm not afraid of flying. I'm afraid of having an all out panic attack on the plane. And I don't do anything half way. My panic attacks involve passing out, emptying out all the contents of my stomach, and then being sick for days. Not fun to watch or participate in. So PLEASE wish me luck and that the meds will calm me and help me get to our destination. If I can have a successful flight, then maybe I can start traveling again, which I LOVE!!

Fingers crossed, lots of prayers, and positive visualization. Either way and in any condition I hope to be in Savannah by tomorrow night!!

Year of You: October class!!


Here is my class for the Year of You series. It uses a Silhouette Machine to cut out circles from one sheet of cardstock, which is used to highlight photos and embellishments.


Keeping this short and sweet today--busy, busy, busy. :)
Easy to Create Holiday Cards

It's back-to-school time with loads of fun classes at 2Peas right now. This week I'm hosting an "Easy to Create Holiday Cards" class with three cards based on one sketch. You can see the class here.

But I'm not the only one with a class. Love stamping? Then don't forget the Stamptoberfest classes here. Or the PS Elements class here. Or Kelly's Typography class here. They are all FREE classes so take advantage. It's a great way to learn a fabulous new technique.

Tomorrow my "Year of You: October" class goes up, but I'll post about that tomorrow. I also snagged some cool jewelry finds for cheap-o that I should photograph. But I'll wait until the sun comes up.



Happy Birthday, Katelyn--I'm the Mother of a Teenager!!



Ok it was yesterday but I hope it was a good birthday for my daughter. She's an amazing young woman. I trust her implicitly with her brother. She is a stunning artist, an accomplished student, a daring "try anything" girl, and funny. What a great combination. I'm so proud of her. And since 13 is my lucky number it should be a GREAT year for her.


We spent the morning with Miss Zadie so I could play photographer. And I mean play. I'm learning a lot, and she's so good to let me practice (and to let Mom play dress-up). Little things like baby's skin has a lot of red in it. And their eyes rarely open wide at the same time. And they're little balls of squishy-ness so it's hard to get them in the right position. And when they've had enough they WILL let you know. But I can't wait to do it again. If only Heather lived closer (hint, hint), then I could play photographer to their whole family all the time. LOL! Here's one of my fav's:








The Mid-Month Garden went up yesterday, it's a "DO NOT MISS" month. Here's is the one that I have up for Halloween:



But I really want to point out some other so AWESOME projects, I just love:

* Stephanie Dagan is one of our new GG's, and she has a lovely style. I love this one by her.

* Ok, any layout that's titled "Dude Looks Like a Lady" is GOING to catch my eye. Nichol rocked it for sure.

* Kandis Smith is the Queen of gorgeous simplicity. Everything is always perfect on her stuff. Like this one.

* And Mary MacAskill another new GG can work a hybrid layout like nobody's business. Check ou the cutest font on this one.

* And if you need a good laugh, you will so get this one by Moon Ko. AWESOME!!

Hope you are having a productive weekend. I've got laundry and two articles that I'm excited to write. Have a good one!


Can You Spot the Difference?


Can you see something different about me (despite the extra poundage)?

I've gone dark. Tara Atkins colored my hair for me. I highly recommend her. She's awesome!! I felt so pampered.

It scared me at first to pass a mirror and spot myself. Weird. But then it grew on me. Ha, ha. Literally.

Now I'm liking it a lot--especially because it covered the gray hairs, baby!! Now that's what I'm talking about.
(Jimmy took the photo for me so there is a little blurage, but I don't hate it which is nothing less than a miracle!)
I Survived!



Ok, I am questioning my personal sanity for even having a garage sale on a cold, October morning; but it went fairly well. Of course comments like "You must have a lot of time on your hands," while digging through my scrapbooking supplies is something I never hear enough of. And people that want to pay nothing for something is also irritating, but I get it--times are hard and garage sales are for bargaining. But it's over and done with and with the proceeds I was able to purchase two entertainment towers for the TV, and that was my goal so I'm happy. But I'm thrilled that it's too cold to do it again until Spring (which means of course that by then I will have forgotten all about the woes of garage sales).



Have been crazy busy lately, which is good but also exhausting. Have a big deadline for Karen Foster. Need to write an article for an upcoming REALLY cool idea book from Scrapbook Trends. The kids have the weekend off so I need to entertain them. And laundry somehow multiplied and divided and I spent nearly 14 hours yesterday washing and folding (and I'm STILL not done). Good grief. I only have the two kids.



Over at 2Peas, I'm in charge of the Weekly Challenge, and I'd love for you to play along. Just create a scene on a layout (it can be using die cuts, stickers, photos, or whatever). Then just upload it and be sure to check the appropriate challenge box when doing so. Then you just might win a prize from one of our fabulous sponsors. Here's my layout:






There are lots of awesome things going on over at 2Peas. Kelly Purkey is teaching a Typography class here, which goes nicely with our monthly theme. There are a bunch of challenges and HUGE prizes for Stampoberfest here. (How about $700 in prizes from American Crafts?) And be sure to check out the sales in the shopping section!! There are some really marked down items.

One last note, and a sobering one. My heart goes out to the American Fork Marching Band who lost one of their beloved teachers in a bus crash this weekend. It is amazing the sacrifices people will make in an effort to care for others.

It's GARAGE SALE time!!

Yep. I'm gonna do it. Don't want to, but I can't justify hanging on to my junk any longer. LOL! If you live in my area and wanna come and need directions, just shoot me an e-mail. Here's what I'm selling. Scrapbooking items include: stickers, rub-ons, stamps, die cuts, pattern papers, cardstock, QVC kits, albums, ribbon, tools (many items never opened and priced CHEAP). Garage sale items: entertainment center, bookshelves, desk, vintage stools, rugs, bedding, women's clothing, boy's clothing, books, and miscellaneous. There is an additional garage sale in cul-de-sac if that helps motivate ya.

Took the hooligans to the park yesterday (or was it the day before). Aren't they cute together? They are actually the best of friends.






And while they were entertaining each other, I played with the Macro setting on my camera. See how the grass is fuzzy except for the center area. SO COOL!! Now if only I really knew what I was doing. LOL!
And to my new friend who I met at Archiver's, "Hello!!" Your daughter was the cutest thing I've ever seen. (I only wish that I had taken the time to actually put myself together a little more. I've GOT to stop going out thinking no one will recognize me in a hat. Yeah, 'cause that so works. My favorite part of my outfit? The long songs and capris. SCARY!! I need some new jeans.)


Welcome!!

In between Karen Foster deadlines, I got to sneak out with my nephew, Wyatt and go see his little sister, Zadie, born yesterday. I am as excited as any aunt could be!! She is gorgeous and Mom is doing well. I'm so happy for their family!!

(I did a little vintage action on the photo as it was taken in nasty hospital light, and she is too beautiful to not look gorgeous!!)
Fall, Glorious Fall!!


I took Jimmy up to his orthopedic appointment yesterday, and all is well. He's still stiff and sometimes cries if he bumps or extends his arm too much, but if he's not paying too much attention it seems to be just fine. For some reason his appointments have been up in Heber, which is an hour away for us, which is a pain except that I got to drive through Provo Canyon which is ablaze with color right now. I mean look at this:




I only wish it would stay like this for another three months. I not that big of a winter fan. :(

I'm still feeling under the weather, but I got to go out last night with my friends for dinner. We take each other out on our b-days, and then we laugh and talk and just have a good time. I prayed and prayed that when we moved to this neighborhood that I would have good friends, and that prayer was answered ten fold. The women in my neighborhood--all the women in my neighborhood, are women of the highest caliber. Eager to help, kind, open, and so full of fun! Serving in the Relief Society program (our church's women's program) allows me to see women at their finest, and they never cease to impress me. I just love being associated with such great girls!!

Snow--Seriously??

Yep. It really snowed yesterday. Mostly in the mountains, but when I ventured out (despite this nasty cold) to go to the grocery store it was snowing. CRAZY!! I know that it's fall and that can mean anything from warm weather to mid-winter weather, but I'm NOT ready. :( Hopefully after this cold front moves out we can have some more moderately warm weather.

We took a sick day yesterday. We ALL have it now. Coughing, sneezing, sore throats, and the kids have fevers. I don't believe I've had one unless it's during the night. Kate is especially sick poor thing. We're going to try school today. Junior High is hard to miss because the homework just piles up. Jimmy has an orthopedic doctor's appointment this morning and then we'll send him on to school as well. Wish us luck!!

I need to get back to the things that make life run smoothly, but it's hard to feel motivated when you're sick (ok, it's hard for me to feel motivated a lot of the time). Before I go and wake the kids for the day, here are my Garden seeds for today's Garden.

The theme this month is Typography. This first one is using die cuts and printed words. You can see the details, more photos, and purchase supplies here:




And this next one uses rub-ons. You can see all the details for this one here:

And here is my last one, which is my favorite. I used fonts to create a cool layered title. (And I'm super proud of my daugher running for Student Council, who handled it beautifully even when she didn't win. She really is one of my heroes!) You can find the layout here: And my last one is a Product Focus, in which I used the Making Memories signage from the "Just Chill" line. They are great little metal signs that are perfect for cards or layouts. And they are deeply discounted right now. You can see this layout here: Well, I'm off to wake the hooligans. Hopefully they are feeling much better. :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...