In Search Of ....

I am in search of some fantastic kits & ideas for my son's Pirate birthday party. He keeps saying that he wants a Pirates of the Caribbean. I just don't think this is really appropriate for a 6 year old party, maybe for MY 30th birthday ROFL

I bought Penny Springerman's Pirate Kit and Template and Kate Hadfield's doodles as well. I just can't seem to get them to combine into a theme I like. I need a kit more "kiddish" like the colors in Kate's doodles I need papers and some more elements to go with the doodles.

I think that I will attempt this cake:


We will be having a Treasure Hunt of some kind, and I already bought some craft stuff for the kids to do, so hopefully that will be enough. Not sure though. I did score at Joann's after Halloween and I have a bag full of goodie bag stuff that I got 75% off!! I am going to do the bags like these:

So PLEASE help!! Lauren could you PLEASE put something together so I can do the invites and have stuff to scrap the pictures :)

Christmas Movies

I realized today that I haven't watched an entire Christmas Movie all season. The kids and I have started to watch a few of our favorites, but something always comes up and we don't finish them. A few of my favorites that I missed watching this year are:
Elf
The Santa Clause (1, 2 and we started to watch 3)
The Christmas Story
The Nativity Story

New Layout!!

I finished up a new layout last night and I am just IN LOVE with it, so I need to share. Just click it for credits. This is Anthony and Serena on Thanksgiving. Anthony is of course the oldest grandchild and Serena is Adam's newest daughter and the youngest grandchild. Anthony couldn't get enough of her!

It is December!!!

Ok, so December actually started a few days ago, but the countdown to Christmas has definitely started. To help my kids countdown to "the big day" they helped me make a Hybrid countdown calendar.

Here are a few pictures of the painting:



I created the background digitally with Traci Reed's Reason for the Season collection, using mostly Reindeer Games. Then printed it out and trimmed it up. Then used my Mod Podge to carefully glue it down.


After it dried a few hours I used the Modge Podge to cover the painted area of the wood to seal it. Then while I was waiting for that coat to dry I cut out all of the Numbers from Traci Reed & Kristen CB's Upper East Side kit that I had printed out. Then used my Memory Makers silent setter to make the smallest hole possible.

When the calendar was dry I screwed in the 2 small hooks and hung the numbers. Here is the final product!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy (late) Thanksgiving everyone. I wanted to share a thanksgiving layout with you, so I did one with pictures of Ellie last year. We have the WHOLE family at Mom's this year so I will have plenty of pics to use this year.


and just for some fun some quizzes from the Sweet Shoppe Blog!!

Your Pilgrim Name Is

Constance Hopkins

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Favorite New Goodies

I have been on a shopping spree lately at the Sweet Shoppe! There are a bunch of new designers and they have been putting out SO many new goodies. My paypal account probably doesn't thank the new designers, but am loving everything I got so I am thankful.

Here is a list of what I have purchased from the designers (some was picked up at their personal shops):
Those We Love Collection by Traci Reed
Upper EastSide by Traci Reed & Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Ahoy Mateys by Penny Springmann
A Pirate's Life Template by Penny Springmann
Coconut Creamer by Laura Deacetis
Tumbler Template Trio by Penny Springmann
Pieces Of You Bundle by Shawna, Micheline & Bree
He Loves Me... by Robin Carlton & Traci Reed

My favorite Product though - that I am MOST excited about is this:

after doing 2 Shutterfly books this month I could not bring myself to put together a Full Sized Calendar - and these little mini ones are going to be a hit.

My Favorite Layout

Over at the Sweet Shoppe blog they have some fun challenges and sometimes thought provoking questions for you to answer on your own blog. The next few blog will be from those.

First Up - My Favorite Layout

It is SO hard to pick just one. My styles change and what may be my favorite one minute is over taken by a new favorite. Right now my favorite is one that I did for SUAS but I submitted it to a Magazine Call so I can't post it right now. So here is technically my "2nd Favorite"

I did this layout for SUAS as well, but the journaling on this is very special and that is really what makes it my favorite. When I was scrapping this picture it really occurred to me that I do need to document little moments like this because even though it doesn't look "memorable" now - in a few years when my mom can't walk anymore, it will be a very cherished memory.

Summer Recap

Ok, let's see if I can do this .... I think I remember how. All I have to do is type write, right? I am sure that no one else is reading anymore since I never post anything. If you do happen to read this say hi so that I know there are actually people out there.

Let's see .... What we did this summer (In Layout Form)....
MAY
She had a "minor" mishap with a pair of scissors. That particular Saturday morning we went and both had out hair cut at my stylist. Later that afternoon I walked out to find a pile of pair in the living room! Yes - that is right ... Ellie decided to give herself a haircut! So Sunday after church we went back to my stylist and she fixed it the best she could. It was SO SO SO SO super short. I had a hard time not crying :( At least it is starting to grow out now and isn't quite as short. Here is a layout from the mishap:


JUNE

While Krystal (the Summer Nanny) had the kids at the park, they got their picture taking and ended up in the newspaper. I big color photo on the front page of the 2nd section!


JULY
We had a big family party at Mom & Dad's. Uncle Bill & his family came to town, as well as Adam & Sara with their kids. Bill was able to join in out fun, so the whole family finally got to meet him. Here are a few layouts




At the end of July we went for a week long vacation to Orcas Island up in Washington. The kids had a blast. I am not gonna share pics yet - because I have a surprise for a later blog post.

AUGUST
Anthony started Kindergarten!! He has alreadygot his 1st report card. We have had a few behavior issues but he gets back on track quickly. He is very good at math (counting, sorting, graphing) He seems so much older to me now. He is pointing out words when we are out places now, and attempting to write them occasionally. Today I even heard him sounding out words on his Power Ranger movie. How cute is that? Here is a scrapbook page of his first day of school:


Mose updates to come in later posts (I Promise)

NSD!

Yep! That is right Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day. In the words of one of my friends "wow, they have a day for everything." I stopped in the day before at the local scrapbook shop on my lunch hour and chatted with the owner a little. I was gonna do some shopping, then ended up talking too much and had to leave to get back to the office.

In the Digi-Scrap world NSD is HUGE!! I was so overwhelmed with all the sales, contests, chats and specials that I decided to just retreat into my own little laptop world and scrapped a few pages. Wanna see???
This one was done using Traci Reed's new kit Unbound. I LOVE the colors in the kit, definitely a must have: For a list of credits go here.


and this adorable layout will be my mom's Mother's Day gift this year. I will be printing this out to create an altered canvas for her. I used Traci Reed's OTHER new kit in the Scrapbook Graphics store this week, Serene. For a list of credits go here.


In other CT new .... have you heard? Amanda Rockwell has her very own place!! Go check out Amanda Rockwell Designs
I will be working with some of her great new stuff this week so come back to see some layouts .

In kid world there isn't much new to report. Anthony did get to enjoy his very first "Nascar Experience" in April with my parents & I at Phoenix International Speedway. I of course scrapped it! He really had a blast and is excited to go again next year.

Ellie did not get to go this year, she got to spend the night with Justine and Dominic, and watched a BUNCH of Princess movies! I think that was a better choice for her. I can't imagine trying to keep track of 2 kids with those crowds! WOW.

OH!! On the shopping front ... at PIR I came home with my very first pair of Crocs! I absolutely LOVE them!! They are (of course) lavendar. I got the mary jane style and they are SO comfy.

Ok, must get back to work now.

Hey, look it is me blogging ... so my blog really isn't dead after all! I can see that I need to do some blog cleaning and post some current layouts. Life is just flying by. Wait until you see how big the kids are!
Here are a few pics from Ellie's birthday in March. Can you believe she is three???



Ok, off to do some behind the scenes cleaning. Be back later with layouts!