July 4th recap and sketch #28

Welcome to the 1st installment of my favorite 4th of July/vacation at the lake photos! I've taken SO many, that I want to share just a few.

First day--they both fell asleep on the boat, so it turned into a marathon boatride.



Then Friday (the 3rd) we watched fireworks off the dock curtesy of the neighbors next door. ;)

On Saturday the 4th we put the girls in their pjs topped off with their life jackets, and went out on the boat to watch fireworks over the water. No shots from that, because I wanted to "be" in the moment.

Before we went out on the boat though, Dad and Kathy had their annual July 4th bash. LOTS of people, TONS of food, and some good quality moments too!





K, so those are all from the 4th. We ended up staying another 5 days at the lake. I'll share my faves from those days soon.

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Last but certainly not least, the new sketch is up at 52 sketches! This one's sketch #28, and my first official reveal as a DT member!



"1 Wet Sunday"

I just LOVE Julie's sketches, and this one was no exception. You'll probably remember these photos from our Sunday frolic in our over-soaked backyard. The thing I loved about this sketch was that it allowed me to use multiple wallet-sized photos, while still cramming in lots of paper too! :D

The deadline for this sketch is next Sunday, July 19th. And one winner with receive a $50 GC to www.scrapbookexpress.com. I don't know a single person who wouldn't like a $50 GC somewhere, so get those entries in so you're eligible for that fantastic prize!

That's all for now! Hope you had a great weekend! I sure did--nice and relaxing! :D

Babies!!!

The proud aunt in me HAS to show off my new nephews, so bear with me.

Baby A, Andrew, came in to the world Wednesday the 8th somewhere around 8pm. And he looks exactly like his daddy.

Andrew is doing great, and at last report, is to be going home sometime later today.

He was quickly followed by his brother Baby B, Gabriel, at 8:11pm.
As you can tell, Gabe had some breathing trouble because his lungs weren't quite ready for delivery. But he's been doing better lately, completely off the C-pap machine, breathing "normal" air, and hanging in there. They give him another day or 2 in the NICU, then he'll be able to go home and join his brother.

It was really sweet and endearing to watch my sister be a mom. The nurture and concern came very naturally for her. Her gentle spirit will be a great asset as she wades through the uncertain waters of 1st time motherhood. I'm very proud of her.

It was a bittersweet moment to do a little impromptu photoshoot with them, because Gabe was missing. But this are still some of my favorite shots from the day.




Hopefully I'll get to visit them very soon, and get some snaps of the boys together!

Well hello there!

Good grief I feel like I've been away for forever!! Seriously! At midnight last night (or this morning) it was so nice to walk in to a freshly cleaned house that was actually meticulously cleaned 10 days ago by my wonderful mom. Yep. That's right. The girls and I were gone for almost 10 days....some to the lake, then the trip to Jackson to visit my brand new nephews. And I've got TONS of photos to show for it. (sigh) It'll be a lot of photo-editing that I just don't have much time for. I also feel so behind. We have no food, and no clean clothes, but the house is clean! Yippeee! And it's BEEN clean, and STAYED clean. It's the little things that count, right? AND on top of that, I have a wonderful new scraproom that Mom also helped me put together! It's sooooo nice! Not finished, but nice.

I guess I'll start with those photos since they're easy to access, and chronologically they DID happen first.

A few little facts first.
1. My scraproom isn't really a "room" at all, more like a nook.
2. My Dad tore down a wall, and we converted a NEVER used bathroom in my laundry room (who puts a bathroom in a laundry room?!) into my little space.
3. So far we've only painted and gotten organized. There's still LOTS I want to do to it, but this'll do for now.






Things to note:
--that shower curtain actually hides our hot water heater. Had to get creative with that one.
--my albums will NOT stay there. But they're there for now.
--Future plans include shabby-ing up a brass chandelier that was original to the house, only it'll be spray painted white and shabby-ed.
--I see some fabric purchases in my near future, but I can't decide between
Sandi Henderson's cherries from her Farmers Market line:

or the Heather Bailey floral from her Pop Garden line.

I can't decide because the cherries seem a little too matchy-matchy and they're pretty trendy, but then the floral seems so formal...
Other plans running through my head include a claw-and-ball high backed chair covered in the fabric I pick out, and then an inspiration/bulletin board also decked out in some fabric. But like I said, we've only just begun. But it makes me soooo happy just to walk in there! And how many people can say that about their laundry rooms?! hehe!

k, enough for now. When I come up for air I'll have more photos ready. ;) Have a wonderful day!!!

More fun news!

Well, it's just been a week of fun news, now hasn't it?! We just got word that my sister delivered the twins about an hour or so ago, and as far as we know, everyone's doing fine. Baby Andrew is doing great, perfectly healthy. Baby Gabe is having a wee bit of trouble breathing, and is in the NICU, but expected to be okay. So I'm officially an aunt (again)!! :D :D :D I'm soooo happy that they're here and doing well! We go up to see them all in the hospital tomorrow, so stay tuned for more pics!

In scrappy news, the August edition of Creating Keepsakes came out yesterday, and guess what? I made the front page of the Seasonal Solutions column!!! Woohoo! I actually haven't seen it yet, but my friend Tab scanned in her copy since these are photos of her kids when they were at the lake with us last summer.



Yay!!! So fun! :D I plan to pick up a copy of it on our way to the hospital tomorrow. So overall, a very fun day with some great news! It doesn't get too much better than this!

EEEeeeeeek!!!

I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to share this! Last week I got a call (and missed it) from Bella Blvd. asking me to be one of their upcoming Artistas!! I'm sooooooo excited about this amazing opportunity! Here's the official announcement. It's so fun to see some familiar names on that list too! :D I can't WAIT to get started!!!

Aquarium

Today was Mom's last day to stay with us. Not only was she a TREMENDOUS help in setting up and organizing my scrap space, but it was also good quality time to share together. Before she left she'd promised the girls she'd take them to the aquarium and this morning she made full on her promise. Here are some fun shots I got along the way!












Needless to say we had a great time!!!

Gotta jet. Lots to do with very little time!

Loving some Cosmo Cricket

Yes, it's true. I DO love me some Cosmo Cricket! It's perfect for the photos of my kiddos, and I love how it's distressed yet bold and colorful. So totally me, which is why I love to design with it. I'm anxiously awaiting a couple of kits that are packed full of their "Early Bird" line and I'm sad that I can't share those creations that are yet to be made with it. I have a feeling that "Early Bird" will be my favorite line yet! So instead I'll share a few LOs I've done with other Cosmo Cricket lines and continue to stalk my postman for those kits.

(And in case you have no clue what I'm talking about, Cosmo Cricket is a scrapping manufacturer who has put out a call to show them your best/favorite Cosmo creations, which is what I'm doing.)

So here goes..

"Little Swimmer"



My sweet Caroline having the time of her life at the lake last summer. Yes, the water really is that green, and completely clear. I used the "Snorkle" line with this one, popped up some "bubbles" and stitched the circles.

"Sunshine"

One of Caroline gleefully playing with bubbles. It's made with a combination of "Hello Sunshine" and "Cogsmo" plus buttons, ric rac and a row of pom poms for good measure (and texture).

"Summer Bliss"

Yet another one with "Snorkle" because I have sooooo many lake photos, and this line's just too perfect for them!

"Embracing 30"

Me. duh. This past year I turned 30, and once I hit the milestone I realized that it's not really as "old" as I thought, that there was SO much life still ahead of me. It's made with the "Hello Sunshine" line as well.

"Slip Slidin' Away"

Another one I made with a kit that had some "Snorkle" line mixed in with it.

Well that about sums it up! I'd be beyond THRILLED to make this team, but even if I don't I'm still gonna love me some Cosmo Cricket!

Lucky

Just a little LO to celebrate Josh. I forget sometimes, or atleast forget to acknowlegdge, just how lucky I'm am to have him in my life. I know I'd be lost (literally sometimes) without him. He's also a fabulous daddy, a dutiful son and son-in-law, and I couldn't ask for more. Guess it's not how lucky I am as much as it is that I'm so blessed that he's a part of my life.

"Lucky"




Product used: Collage Press "Camden" line of papers with a little bit of "Jackson Lodge mixed in too, Jenni Bowlin bingo cards and chipboard button, Bo Bunny rhinestones, corrugated cardboard, misc. ribbon (brown dot) and Pop Dots

Winner and a sneak peek!

What an awesome turnout for the Urban Anthology blog hop!! Wow! And what great answers you all gave! Sounds like everyone's had at least one WONderful b'day present given to them over the years, but I'm sure it's been more too! And just in case you were curious, my favorite birthday present (hands-down) was this past year when I received my Nikon D60 from y wonderful dh and family!!! (Sometimes I wonder if they wish they hadn't given it to me seeing as it gets shoved in their faces quite a bit. But I love it! :D )

And now for the winner......The winner of the $5 Urban Anthology GC goes to:

Brandi, who wrote "Jason gave me a "promise" ring for my 19th birthday 1.5 months after we started dating! It's a little heart outlined with diamonds."

Awww! So sweet! So Brandi, if you'll email me I'll let ya how to get that GC!

And now for a sneak peek of Urban Anthology's July Kit, "Grandma's Kitchen:


Wooohooo! Can't WAIT to get my hands on that yumminess!

Urban Anthology birthday blog hop!

"Welcome to the first ever Urban Anthology Birthday Blog Hop! Thanks so much for joining in! Please note that this is a progressive blog hop and my blog is number 2 out of 8, so to start at the beginning, please click the here to start at the beginning.

As you may know, this blog hop is progressive. Each of the UA DT members are blogging about a page element or technique. THEN, once you've read all the blogs, combine all 8 elements to create your own layout and become eligible to win the Birthday Queen Grand Prize! So, are you ready?

The technique I want to share with you is a simple one, nothing new, but it adds LOTS of texture to your page.

**For my challenge, I'd like you to use a masking technique somewhere on your layout.**

It doesn't matter to me if you use paint, glimmer mist, other dyes, or whatever. Just somewhere on your layout, add a masked image. It's that easy, it's that simple.

Here are some examples I have for you, both of which are masked titles.

First up is one I did with the UA June kit "Puttin' on the Ritz".

"Sunset Stroll"



Here, I used paint over alpha stickers to create the mask.

And the 2nd is with some Bella Blvd. papers.

"She's got Spirit"



And here I used Glimmer Mist (Cherry Limeade flavor) to make the mask. Then I decided to outline the letters in pen so they'd show up even better. One idea I'd like to try is to mask a title and then stitch the letters instead of outlining them. ;)

For this challenge though, you don't have to mask your title. It can a mask of anything and be on any part of your LO. So go have some creative fun with all your artsy supplies! :D

And that's element #2 of 8.
For the next element, visit Jana Eubank's blog here.

REMEMBER: When you've gathered all six elements, get creating, and don't forget to post your project in the Urban Anthology gallery by Sunday June 28th at Midnight (PST) for a chance to win the Urban Anthology Birthday Queen grand prize!

And lastly, I'd like to give away a little RAK of my own. For a chance to win a $5 GC to the Urban Anthology store, tell me this:

What is a favorite gift you've received for your birthday?

Please leave a blog comment on this post, and I'll pick a winner on Monday morning!

Happy blog hopping and creating! :D

Piggy-tails and a purse!

Oh to be 2 again! hehehe! First it was purse to the pool, now it's purse (with cell phone and compact mirror) to the ballpark! What's next? Trips to the mall? :D



These are SK's first pigtails. Her hair is FINALLY barely long enough for them! They're actually just little sprigs. Not sure if they officially qualify as real pigtails.

Quick weekend in review

We've been up to a lot and there's lots to tell, but so little time that I'll let the photos speak for themselves. ;)

First, Josh and I got to see my all-time favorite duo, the Indigo Girls, Friday night.


Then we spent the rest of the weekend at the lake. Here's a quick rundown.











The self-proclaimed princess hopes you had a good weekend too and bids you farewell.