Sunburned and tired...

Yep, i'm sunburned and tired after my weekend, but it was a good one! We had a birthday party yesterday, and today we spent almost the whole day outside. In the morning, we did yardwork, and Tony finished up the low brick wall we build around our garden... it looks great!! I'm so excited about it! Then, after the kids' naptime, we went back outside. Tony took Noah's training wheels off again, and he is now officially a bike rider!! He totally got it this time! What's even funnier is that 3 of his n'hood friends all got their training wheels off in the last few days, too! It was like a chain reaction, hehea. I'm proud of my little guy - he's such a big boy at 4 1/2! All the sun knocked me out - I think i'll sleep well tonight!

Here is my Fancy Pants layout using the Kraft Kuts line. I sooo love the Kraft Kuts, and I can't wait to get my hands on the new lines that were just released!

This was my childhood home. The journaling reads: My first 12 years were spent in this house on Darnell Drive. This is where I grew up. Lots of memories... lots of love.

I'll leave you all with my favorite photo from today :-) I'm having so much fun trying out the different manual modes on my camera! I took this one in Shutter Priority mode...

I hope all of you guys had a wonderful weekend, too!

Using up my May kit...

Ahh, how I loved this May kit from CMK! This first layout is about our adventures berry picking last summer - I can't wait to do that again! The kit came with some chipboard tree tops and trunks, so I took some of the tops and turned them into a berry cluster.

This layout was made with the regular kit and the mini-kit add-on. So much gorgeous stuff in there, too! This conversation that Chloe and I had the other night was SO sweet - I just had to scrap it (don't forget you can click on the photo of the journaling to see it enlarged).

Sorry for such a drive-by post, but it's the little one's naptime, and they're both screaming to me right now! Ahh, the joys of motherhood :-)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

CMK Blog Hop Time!!

Yes, it is that time again for the CMK blog hop to reveal the new kit for June! But, before I get to that, a brief recap of my very busy week...

I took a photography class on Wednesday with next door Lisa. After lots of messing around this week, I *think* i'm getting comfortable taking my Canon Rebel off of auto, lol.

On Thursday, we hit up one of our favorite parks.
Then I got to witness my baby riding his bike for a period without training wheels!

On Friday, I had a fabulous day helping next door Lisa celebrate her birthday. We left the kids with their daddies, hit up our LSS, got hot stone pedicures and went for lunch... bliss! That night, we had a block party to continue the fun. It's always a blast hanging out with this group, and down-the-street Heather came by, too (don't you love the names i've given my neighbors, lol?).

On Saturday, we had a morning mixed with work and play. Lots of laundry and stuff around the house combined with block building, playdough and dress-up. Then yesterday afternoon, I spent several hours outside working on my flower garden. After planting all the flowers in the last few weeks, it was finally time yesterday to dig a trench for the low brick wall we're buliding around the garden. It's looking good!

Finally, today, we went to a BBQ at another neighbor's house. We all had a great time, and i'm still full, several hours later!
Now, without further ado, I bring you my first layout using CMK's June kit. This kit is SO cool! Lots of bright bold colors and fun embellies! I had fun altering the Pink Paislee chip letters by sanding them and adding some polka dots. It's so much fun to scrap photos of Chloe when she was a baby!


Be sure to check out the blogs of the other CMK DT girls (links on the left)!

Well, my friends, I hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And for those of you who have loved ones in the military, I hope they come safely home to you very soon!!

7 years ago today....

This was us...

And the very next day, we were boarding our honeymoon cruise, which turned out to be the best vacation ever!!

Sorry to interrupt this usually scrappy blog with a tribute to my husband, but this man means the world to me, and I am eternally grateful to have found someone who puts up with me day in and day out (or maybe it's the other way around? ;-) Happy happy anniversary, babe!!

I will be back on Wednesday with a new CMK layout :-)

Happy Monday, everyone!

Random stuff...

Today's post is going to be pretty random :-)

First, if you all are as crazy (or should I say krazy, lol) about the new Kraft Kuts line by Fancy Pants, you will love this. TWO brand new Kraft Kut releases! I loooove these and can't wait to play with them myself!

Second is a random recent Noah story that cracks me up every time I think about it, and I want to record it here so that i'll remember to scrap it ;-) This was our conversation the other day while I was letting Noah play his V-Tech video game during "quiet time", and I heard him let out a long sigh:
Me: "What's wrong?"
Noah: "I'm trying to move this stupid trash can (on the video game)!" This was said rather harshly, by the way.
A split second of silence passed as he realized what he said and decided he better cover it up before I reacted to his choice of words...
Noah (again): "Um, mommy, I didn't say a bad word! Did you know the trash can's name is actually stupid?"
This resulted in uncontrollable laughter from myself to which Noah had one last thing to say -
Noah: "I knew you'd like that one, mommy!"

Lastly, remember this class that I told you about the other day that my amazingly talented friend Doris Sander is teaching? Well, I am honored to have created a couple of layouts as examples for Doris' class. Here is a peek of a layout that I did for her lesson on specialty paper:

The class just started yesterday, so there is still time to sign up!

Hope you all are having a fantastic week! Today was Noah's last day of preschool for the year - I can't believe it's already that time!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am extremely blessed with a mother who is there for me not only as my support system and confidante, but my friend. It's been a very cool thing to see my relationship with my mother grow through the years, and I can relate to her on so many new levels now that I am a mother myself. Sure, we can get snippy with each other - I think I tend to take my bad moods out on my mom because I know she'll put up with me no matter what - and I think that is true for her as well, lol. I cherish my mom more then words can say, though, and I can't even begin to describe how much I appreciate her and all that she has always done, and continues to do, for me and my family. I love you mom... Happy Mother's Day! I hope you enjoy your brag book!





We had a great day today, full of yummy eats with the whole family, a trip to Home Depot for me to get the last things I needed for my new flower garden that I worked on yesterday (with lots of help from my next door neighbors - thanks, lis and chip!), and some park play with my boy. Tonight will definitely be an early night as we stayed up late hanging out with some neighbors on our street last night, and my body is paying for it today!

Happy happy Mother's Day to all of you mommies out there!

The result of my scrappy playdate...

Next door Lisa and I had our second scrappy playdate today, and it was so much fun! Lisa and I set up in the kitchen while the three little ones kept passing by us going between the playroom and the family room. They ended up staying for about 4 hours, and yes, I got a whopping 1 layout completed. But, um, we did break for lunch ;-)

This was made with the fantastic May CMK kit which is chock full of goodies. And, I even tried glimmer mist for the first time! Now why on earth did I wait so long to break into this?? I love the effect! The color I used on this layout is Slate, but the other color I have is Pearl, and i'm having a hard time getting it to show up on anything. Anyone have any suggestions for what that color is good on?

Does anyone have any good Mother's Day plans this weekend? We always get together with my whole fam, so we're all going out for brunch on Sunday, which i'm looking forward to. Yesterday, Noah's preschool had a Mother's Day celebration for us, and it was seriously the sweetest thing ever! The kids came out and got us, one by one, and put a tissue flower corsage on our wrists - aaah, so sweet. Noah led me to my seat, and the teachers served us food. When I was done, Noah cleared the table and took my plate! (Now how do I transfer these skills to home? lol) They then sat us down for circle time and the kids sang several songs to us, and then presented us with gifts. Noah made me a butterfly pin, and he decorated a jar of bath salts. We also decorated a flower pot together, and then the teachers gave us flowers to go in the pots. The whole morning was really wonderful - definitely something I will never forget!

Tony is getting home late tonight as he was taking his employees to see Star Trek as a bonding experience (yep, I will gladly pass on that one, lol), so i'm going to sign off as i'm hoping to get my scrappy groove on for a little while longer tonight.

Before I go, though, I wanted to tell you all that my friend Doris Sander is at it again. A while back I told you about her Product Pizzazz class she was teaching, and now she is teaching a second Product Pizzazz class. You do not have to have taken the first one to take this one. This class covers chipboard, thread, floss, fiber, labels & tags, specialty paper, stickers, acrylics & overlays, small things and tiny things. The class starts on May 12th, and you can read all about it here.

Happy happy mother's day to all of my mommy friends out there in blogland! Hope it's a great one!

Yes, I know...

I know, I know, I said my goal is to blog three times a week. Buuuuut, let me point out that my goal deadline is a year, lol. Baby steps, right? How was everyone's Nat'l Scrapbooking Day? I didn't get to scrapbook on the actual day, but I did go to a crop yesterday with Heather and Lisa. Fun day! I got a little mini done (to be shown later) and this Fancy Pants layout about my dad. My dad is definitely one of a kind, and I really wanted to document that...


We're doing something different on the Fancy Pants blog. We're showcasing a different product 4 times a month, and to keep the layouts fresh, we're not showing them until then. So, here is a teeny weeny peek of my layout using the fabulous new Kraft Kuts:

Ack, my naked children are running around waiting to get in the tub, but before I sign off, I wanted to direct you all to the awesome new blog, The Next Step. These girls are super talented scrappers and mixed media artists, and they just posted their first tutorial.

Lastly, I have to give a big shout out and THANK YOU to my friend Lisa Howard. I won a RAK on Lisa's blog which arrived today, and let me tell you, this girl was not fooling around! This box was stuffed to the brim with goodies, and I am so appreciative of Lisa's kindness! Thanks so much, girl!!

Hope you all are having a happy Monday!