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Sneak Peek

Here’s a little sneak peek of my swap package on its way to my super secret swap partner. I hope she likes all the goodies. I had so much fun putting them together and packaging them up. Hope to do more fun swaps like this one in the near future. I also received an email from my secret pal that my package was on its way. Can’t wait to see it! I promise to update with photos as soon as it arrives.

Create.

Today was all about creating art.(oh and a little shopping too J) Laura started her summer art class. She was so excited! I made her a special T-shirt using Epson’s transfer paper, so much fun. Love how it turned out.

After I dropped her off at class, I had to stop at the local Michaels store. It is just two minutes away from her class, how could I resist, my car practically drove itself, lol. Here are my finds:

They have these super cute nesting boxes for gifts. I just might use some for storage. I loved that they had some of the new Making Memories Cheeky line. Really fun colors in this line. Looking forward to getting some paper from this line to match the embellishments. That striped ribbon was only a dollar! I could not pass it up. I also got the girls some art supplies and Maggie delved right in as soon as we got home.

On My Desktop

I have found a new magazine to LOVE! Adorn magazine is full of color and inspiration. I just love it. Check out their website here. I am loving this project idea:

I so excited to have joined a super cool crafty swap. I have been wanting to join one of these for some time now. It should be a lot of fun. I have not scrapbooked in so long, I miss it. Now that summer is here I hope to take the time to relax and get some projects done.

New Layout

Finally got a layout done! It has been months since I have had time to scrapbook. The theme over at APIY was scraplift. It was so much fun to see how each designer interrupts the other layouts. You can see them here. I lifted Jocelyn's idea to put hands on a page. It was so much fun to trace my daughters hands for this page. They loved getting involved with my scrapbooking. I hope to do it more and more often with them.

I changed the photo to black in white but I think I like it better in color. This was such a spur of a moment shot I took of my girls as they were playing in the backyard one sunny afternoon. Love how you can see all the detail of their faces, how they are alike and different.

April Inspiration

With taxes behind me I am ready to start creating again. I have missed scrapbooking so much these last few months. To spark my creativity, here are a few things that have caught my eye this month:

From Denise Schmidt Quilts, the beautiful color combination in this apron. I am not a quilter but the inspiration in this books goes beyond just quilting. I love to look through it for ideas, especially beautiful color combinations.

From the Spring Issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, I fell in love with this layout of yellow favor ideas. Love the sweetness of yellow. My girls both wore yellow on Easter this year. I know there is a page in there somewhere.

From Anna Corba's book Vintage Paper Crafts, this book has been out for some time but I just got it from my Crafter's Choice book club. I LOVE it! Lots of tag ideas which is a favorite of mine and I just love the style throughout this book. I loved these beautiful bottles, so simple to make but so stylish looking. I definatley plan on giving this a try along with some of the other ideas in this book.

And of course my new ribbon from Michaels. My jaw just about dropped when I went to my local Michaels the other day to find sooo much new ribbon on display. I was in ribbon heaven. Not to mention this cute container from Crop In Style. I love to look at it sitting on my desk.

Favorite New Papers & Anniversary

   

I LOVE ANNA GRIFFIN PAPERS! A Peek Into Yesterday got the new patterns in today! Can't wait to use them!

I have been working non-stop lately so no time to post or scrapbook. I just want to make note that eight years ago today Paul and I said "I Do". Happy Anniversary, I love you!

This Weekend I . . .

Enjoyed some delicious food at our favorite Indian restaurant

Worked very hard on my taxes

Took a break and spent time with a new friend as we watched our children play

Rented Walk The Line and experienced one of the best films of the year with my husband

Watched the 78th Annual Academy Awards - Way to go Crash! Loved that movie.

Wished I could scrapbook, but gazed at all the tax papers instead.

Now, on to a new week.

Numbers

Cool challenge from Michelle's blog . This is good for me today, because it will help wake up my brain. I got very little sleep last night thanks to my daughter, Maggie, plus I tend to be sleepy on Mondays. The challenge is to write down the numbers 1-10 and how each is significant to you. Play along, it's fun and would make a cute scrapbook page. Here's mine:

1. The number of siblings I have. Just me and my sis Lisa.

2. Number of children I have. Two girls, just like my mother had my sister and I, also with the same age difference of three years.

3. Number of times I have seen Yanni in concert. I love and adore his music. He's FANTASTIC live.

4. The number of times I have been to Northern Ireland to visit my husband's family. I hope to go again soon. Miss you all.

5. The number I always tell my children I am going to count to in order to motivate them to do what I'm asking. It rarely works.

6. I was born on the sixth of October.

7. Has always been a favorite number of mine for as long as I can remember. Just love this number.

8. On March 28, 2006, the number of years I have been married to Paul.

9. I had just turned this age when a large earthquake hit by hometown. I will never forget it! It felt like and sounded like our house was on a moving train. All of our dinner plates broke except for four. Each from a different pattern. There are four in my immediate family. Kinda funny.

10. The number of years I have been out of highschool. So much has changed since then, but it was a great time in my life that I will always look back on fondly.

There you go. So how are these numbers significant to you? It gets you thinking.

New Layout

So with my new supplies I created this:

I can't believe how grown up Laura is looking. I had so much fun using my foam stamps on this page. However, when I was using them I realized why I don't use stamps much. I am not a fan of cleaning the stamps after I use them and getting ink all over my fingers. I always worry I'm going to get in my page. Gotta love baby wipes though, they cetainly came in handy. I also could not resist using some of my new ric rac, love that stuff. The theme at Peek was Valentine colors, you must see the other layouts, they are fantastic. We all used different collections. Look at them here.

On another note, like the cover of my new PB catalog

and this ad from J.Crew,

 

I could not be more ready for Spring. When you walk in the stores, it is all about fresh, new, color, flowers. Love that!

New Supplies

 

It has been forever since my last post. Thank you Heather for the much needed reminder! It has also been awhile since I have received some new scrapbook goodies in the mail. I got some yummy supplies from A Peek Into Yesterday, and I can't wait to start on my projects. I LOVE Valentine's Day, and I am devouring my February issues of Martha Stewart Living and Mary Englebreit's Home Companion. So much inspiration in both of these magazines.

I have also been playing with the new Making Memories tag maker. So much fun. I found some old wallet size photos of Laura when she was 9 months old and made this circle tag. So many possiblities with this new tool. I look forward to playing with it some more.

Also received my order of ribbon from the Ribbon Jar. I adore rick rack and love using it in my scrapbook pages. This site has a fantastic selection. I am so inspired just looking at it!