Happy (and hot) July!

Ok,so I still haven't been in here as much as I'd like, but i'm working my way up ;-)  I've been scrapping again, and I know I said this last time but man, does it feel good!  There's nothing like getting in touch with your creative side to make a person start to feel whole again.  Had so much fun with this one - used the Heidi Swapp Invisibles paper which I misted pink and then added some handstiching to add some texture to some of the circles.  I cut the star out of cardboard and then covered it with some pretty paper to add even more depth - you all know I like my lumpy pages.  Having lots of fun with details as I always do.  I love these photos I took of the bigs after Chloe's dance recital last month - those two sure can fight, but they also sure do love each other!

So, since my blogging has gone by the wayside lately, clearly my picture posting has as well.  Have to catch you guys up with some recent ones.  Love this one of Lucas hugging my leg.  Can you believe this little guy is going to be TWO next month?

And then here are some of my favorites from Fourth of July.  We celebrated with good friends, and the kids loved the sparklers, of course!

Hope you all are enjoying summer and staying cool - it's been HOT here!!

here.

Alrighty, so here I am, trying to resurrect this little ole' blog.
Though I never did use this blog to get too personal or share my innermost thoughts, I have always enjoyed having a place to come and look back at snippets of memories that I decided to share for whatever reason at the time.
And of course, to share my scrappies.

So, I'm gonna try this again.

I wasn't that great at keeping up with it once we added that third little person into our lives, but I'm hoping I can do better.  And if not, that's ok, too... I'm realizing that I can't do it all, which is a liberating yet difficult concept to grasp ahold of.

So, scrapbooking.  Hadn't done it since December.  SIX months!  Wow.  Almost half of 2012 has passed, and I have barely a creative token to show for it.  I lost so much motivation for it after Lucas was born, but last night, when I had all my supplies out, it all came rushing back.  And I remembered why I fell in love with this hobby in the first place.  Like playing the guitar used to do for me (something i'm also trying slowly to pick back up), scrapbooking was a way for me to get lost in something that made me feel a sense of accomplishment.  And with this hobby, I get to express myself creatively and artistically, and that is one of the best feelings in the world.

So, I dusted off my tape runner, and I got to work.  This layout was a really personal one for me.  I can't remember the last time I had hidden journaling (located on that 'note to self' tag behind the photo), but I had things to say that I didn't really want to share with the world ;-)  And this layout reminded me how therapeutic and freeing it can be to get lost in creativity and writing.  And with that... i'm back, and i'm hoping my scrapbook room and I can get reacquainted. 

My top 10

Happy new year, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We celebrated new years at a party at a good friends house - there were 10 adults and 13 kids, and most of us slept over (although I got no sleep, thanks to a baby who doesn't sleep out well ;-)... it was a great time, and a great way to kick off 2012. In keeping with tradition, I wanted to dedicate a post to my favorite projects of 2011. Here we go....

Here's wishing you all a happy and healthy 2012!

Happy holidays!

Whew - can I rest yet?? Between Chloe's birthday, Hanukkah and Christmas, our December is always crazy!! It's been a wonderful week, though, full of Hanukkah presents and Christmas trees. Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to my brother and SIL's to spend with the fam, and then we hung out at home all day Christmas day and relaxed (and the kids played with lots of new toys!). We ended the day with a lovely Jewish tradition of Chinese food on Christmas (hey - I have to bring some of my childhood traditions to our home, right? ;-)

Oh! And did I mention that Tony totally spoiled me?? He got me a new DSLR! I can't tell you how excited I am about this! My Canon Rebel XT just turned 6 years old, and it was definitely dying a slow death after years of abuse. So my honey surprised me with the Canon Rebel T2i - it is amazing!! It has way more features and capabilities than my old one did, and some of my favorites are the 18 megapixels and 6400 ISO (my old one went to 1600!). I'm having SO much fun playing with it, but I still have lots to learn! So, without further ado, here are some of the very first pics taken with my new camera, depicting our holiday week:

My Chloe bear, on Xmas Eve (wearing fake earrings that I made out of faux pearls and glue dots LOL!):

Me and my mama:
Weeeee!:
My beautiful niece with Chloe:
Me and my man:
Love this shot of Tony and Chloe:
And me and my girl:
Me and my bro lighting the menorah with our kids:
Having fun messing around with the new cam on Xmas day ;-)








And, just because it's cold and I feel like remembering the warmth lol, here is a LO I made awhile back that I forgot to post about the annual outdoor concert that my girlfriends and I go to every summer:
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, no matter what you celebrate!! :-)

A letter to my girl...

Today this sweet girl turned five (picture of Chloe and daddy taken at dinner out tonight). Five! I remember when Noah turned five, and it hit me hard. Five seems, well, so old. Yes, I know that may sound a bit dramatic, as I am well aware that five really isn't old (now 36 like me, that's another story ;-), but it's definitely "big girl" status. In celebration of my Chloe's birthday, I wanted to write her a letter, which I hope you don't mind that I share here.

My dearest Chloe,
It's so very hard to believe that you are five years old now. It seemed that for so long, we were stuck in the phase of you being my little shadow, attached to my hip, never wanting me to leave you for one second. Though that phase lasted for several years, it now seems a faded memory. You are now so independent. Sure, you get a little wary in new situations, but for the most part, you jump right in. You work hard to keep up with your older brother (I have a feeling the motivation for you to get your training wheels off several months ago was to be like Noah!), and you definitely work hard to take care of your little brother. You are SO kind hearted. You are constantly making gifts for people, always wanting to share a little piece of yourself. You are a helper, always wanting to do things around the house for me. You are artistic. You love to paint, draw and create. You have made some of the most creative, unique things all on your own - I love to see how your brain works. You love to bake. I try to have regular baking projects with you because it makes you so happy, and I enjoy that time spent together, too. You have a thirst for learning. You are such a good girl at pre-school (your teachers rave about you!), and you ask a lot of questions, regularly trying to figure out how the world works. Now, because i'm keeping this real (here it comes! ;-), I have to mention that you can also be, um, how should I say this.... difficult at times. You are very strong willed and stubborn. These are qualities that I have no doubt will serve you well later in life. You will not be the child who lets herself get pushed around by others. However, at home, that can also lead to a lot of butting heads and frustration. We are working on it, and it's a learning process for both of us. No matter what, though, I love every single bit of you, strong willed-ness and all! As you and I always say, we are the only girls in this house full of boys, so we have to stick together! I love you with all of my heart, Chlo-Chlo, and you will ALWAYS be my girl Happy fifth birthday to my "big" girl.

Love,
Mommy

Teresa Collins Guest Designer and major catch up!!

Ok, so it's been a *little* while since i've updated here (hanging head in shame ;-) The truth of the matter is that life has just gotten really busy, and, unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to keep up with scrapping and blogging like I used to. I'm trying hard to manage my time so that I can get back to scrapping regularly like I used to - I really miss that creative outlet! I did manage to get some layouts done recently for my guest design gig for Teresa Collins. She sent me the GORGEOUS Christmas home collection, and I made these 3 layouts:





You can see the blog post here.

A super big THANK YOU to Teresa Collins for having me as a guest designer - what an honor! :-)

Now, onto some photo catch up! During my blogging hiatus, I missed Halloween:



And I missed a trip to the airport park with the kids. Lucas LOVED seeing the planes fly by! My mother-in-law was also here for a visit then, which was a great treat for all of us. Unfortunately she had to cut her trip short, as Tony's grandmother is sick, but we loved having my MIL visit while she was here!





And then, most recently, I missed blogging about Thanksgiving. We hosted, as we always do, and it was great to have some of the family together. Love this pic of us ladies - my mom, me, my SIL, my niece, and my Chloe :-)

The 5 cousins:
And this year's family photo (yes, this will be gracing this year's holiday card soon LOL)!
So, in recent months, Noah finally lost his first tooth, Lucas started walking (he is all over the place!), Chloe learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, Tony completed the Tough Mudder (a 10 mile obstacle run), and I signed up for the Iron Girl triathlon (.6 mile swim, 17 mile bike ride and 3.4 mile run). What was I thinking? Good question!! Thank goodness I have until August to train. I've started with the running, and although I still hate it lol, at least I feel like i'm going to die a little less each time - I guess that's a good sign hehea.

Yes, life is definitely busy here. But very very good. And we truly have so much to be thankful for. Happy belated Thanksgiving, friends!