thankful

Have I ever mentioned how great a husband I have? I am so thankful for him. He let me spontaneously go out of town last weekend for two days. This weekend I was planning on sending him off all day today to go biking or do anything he likes and now I am sick. He is taking care of the kids while I am in bed . . . and he's not complaining. My Crohn's caught up with me again and I started steroids last night. This time I am trying a different steroid in hopes that I won't feel like a crazy person. If you've ever been on Prednisone, I'm sure you know what I mean.

In other news, yesterday was my birthday. I added quite a few grays to my hair this past year. My kids made me several "cards." Below is a sampling. My husband makes me cards for every occassion as well . . . he is no stranger to my scrapbook room. He thinks he should take my place at Green Tangerines as a substitute card instructor. What do you think, Kelly? : )

My girls creations.

Tim's cupcake card.

Have a great weekend!

park day

I recently found this layout in a pile of layouts that the store had returned to me . . . it is still waiting to make it's way into an album. I made this layout last Spring to showcase some new My Mind's Eye product that had come into the store. Faith had just turned two and Paige was almost four in these pictures. They look so little to me.

Did you know you can paint American Craft Thickers? (I hadn't thought of it until someone told me they'd tried it.) Obviously you can paint the chipboard letters, but these are their mini foam letters. They were green, but they blended into the page too much, so I painted them cream to stand out a bit.

Hope you have a great day!

6 months

My little guy turned 6 months old a few days ago. He is growing so fast. My life has changed over the last month because he started crawling around Christmastime--now I can't just set him down anywhere. The girls are having to learn to pick up their little toys . . . not a bad deal for me! Here he is in all his cuteness . . .

I take this picture with his teddy every month for the first year. It makes for a fun layout when he turns one. The girls are so good at helping me make him laugh for the picture. They love to be his entertainers!

easy tomato soup

It has been raining for what feels like forever here . . . and it is cold. The only thing I like about the cold is that I feel the need to make soup. Here is a very easy recipe when you need something warm fast!

2 cups Tomato Juice (I use Campbell's Organic)
.5 cup plain yogurt (I use my homeade yogurt that is completely lactose free)
1 tsp butter
.25 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp basil (or a bay leaf if you like them)
a dash or two of black pepper

Whisk all your ingredients together in a saucepan and heat slowly, stirring occasionally. I usually double or triple the recipe so I can eat on it for a few days.

This is so much better for you than canned tomato soup with all the additives--and it tastes better too!

Have a great weekend!

altered composition notebook

Do you ever find yourself writing lists of things you HAVE to remember, only to lose them because you can't find your scrap of paper? I am a fairly organized person, but I still seem to run into this problem from time to time . . . well, a lot more lately now that I have three kids. Here is my solution:

front

back

I covered the front and backside of a $1 compostion notebook. I used Modge Podge and made sure to go completely to the edges--this will ensure no peeling! I circle cut a 5" circle and glued it to the front. I added some letter stickers and some ribbon, a little faux stitching with my red pen and I was done. Oh, and I added some 7 Gypsies tape to the binder--love their tape!

I'm going to keep this in my purse and take it everywhere with me! That is the plan anyway . . . hopefully I will keep better track of my lists! Have a great Thursday!

day 10 oct/nov green tangerines kit

Are you tired of this kit yet? This is my last project with the kit.

Again, a quick card. The red loop lines are rub-ons and the flower is a pre-made embellishment with a button on top.

My parents are here for a couple of days, so I am going to spend some quality time with them. Stop back in a couple of days and I will have something other than the Oct/Nov kit! Not that a girl can ever get too much scrapbooking eye candy, right? (I could look at idea books for days!) Have a great day!

day 9 oct/nov green tangerines kit

I love quick and easy cards! With three children, ages five and under, I don't have a ton of time to spend on cards (or anything else for that matter). I love when I can throw a card together in 10 minutes or less. This was one of those cards. A circle punch here, a scallop punch there, throw some ribbon on and a premade flower embellishment and I am done.

Have a great weekend!

day 8 oct/nov green tangerines kit

A simple card for you. The kit had these cute little envelopes and I included a slip of paper to be pulled out with a message on it. The "is for thanks" portion of the card is a custom embellishment that the Green Tangerines girls put together. I sewed around the card twice to give the card a little extra touch. Love my sewing machine! Do you love to sew on paper more than fabric, like me?

day 7 oct/nov green tangerines kit

This layout requires a little explanation . . . My grandfather was killed by his bull just two weeks after my mom was married and four years before I was born. He was only 43 years old. This is the last picture my mom has with him. I didn't add any color to the layout because I wanted the reader to feel how tragic and sad this day was. You should be able to click on the layout and read the journaling should you want to know the full story.

Whether I am scrapping events that are years old or my own children's daily happenings, I try to include the good and the bad--it gives a real picture of life.

I'll have more cards the rest of the week from the Green Tangerines kit!

**edit . . . After I posted this I just noticed a huge typo in my journaling . . . an entire line has been moved down. Ggrrrrrrr. How did I not notice this??!!! Good thing it's a semi-quick fix.

day 6 oct/nov green tangerines kit

This is my grandmother's senior picture taken in 1947. I fell in love with these papers from the October/November Green Tangerines kit club! The silver pearls came with the kit and went perfectly with the "pearls" on my grandmothers blouse. The flowers were easy to make. I cut random non-symetrical flowers, crinkled them up and flattened them out, inked the edges and put a brad through the layers. Instant cute flower! I just love flowers . . .

Have a great day!

day 5 oct/nov green tangeries kit club

I'm typically a 12x12 scrapper, but for the heritage album I'm working on I decided to try something new--8.5x11. I've also decided to use minimal embellishments in this album. I want the stories to really stand out and for the album to have a classic feel. You can check out my other heritage layouts here.

I started to interview both of my grandmas (grandpas are not alive) about 2 years ago with the intent of putting together a heritage album. I have slowly been working on it . . . slowly. When one of them started to decline in health about a year ago, I started working on the album more regularly to make sure she would be around to ask questions if I needed clarification. Unfortunately, her memory started to go and I was not able to get some of my questions answered. She passed away in November at age 92. I will still continue in my quest to get her life recorded. She lived a great life.

Now, I have started to actively work on my other grandmas photos. She is still alive and able to answer questions. I want to make sure I get hers done while we can still talk--and so she can see her life in scrapbook form. I know she appreciates all the work. I am learning so much about her and I love it!

*My tip for the day--get those stories from your older loved ones recorded while you can! You won't regret it.

a little more jillibean soup

One of the perks of being a guest designer over at Jillibean earlier this week was all the cool stuff they sent me to work with--and SO MUCH of it! When I was finished with my projects, I gave everything I had left to my scrapbooking pal Kristen. Kristen and I have a similar scrapping style and I love seeing what she comes up with! If you are a Jillibean fan, a 2-page layout girl or an animal lover, check out this layout. And she provides you with a sketch! Earlier in the week she used some Jillibean on a home decor project (scroll down in the post). Such cute stuff! Glad my extras got some good use!

day 4 oct/nov green tangerines kit

Some of us on the Green Tangerines Design Team are asked to do a few cards as well as layouts each month. I am always happy to comply. You can never have too many cards around--it's nice to have them ready when I need one quick! This one I put together in a snap--cardstock, thickers, faux stitching rub-ons and a flower embellishment already put together. Easy peasy.

Check back Monday for more Kit Club goodness! I've got a few heritage layouts to share.

Have a great weekend!

day 3 oct/nov green tangerines kit

These are some dear friends of ours that we spent Thanksgivng with in the Bay Area. To get these long photos I cropped the top photo to 3x10 and the two bottom photos to 2.5x10 (the very bottom photos are actually 2 pictures grouped together). I then placed all 3 photos onto an 8x12 canvas and had it printed at Costco for $1.49. Gotta love Costco!

p.s. This just in . . . the Green Tangerines December kit is in and ready to purchase/ship! I will show you my projects once they post to the Design Team's Kit Club Gallery.

day 2 green tangerines oct/nov kit

I put text on my photos using PSE. I saw this fun border in the January issue of CK that Jennifer McGuire  did. I lightly tacked the circles down, sewed through all of them, then folded the edges up. It was fun to add a little dimension. See you tomorrow!

jillibean soup

This past fall I was chosen along with 11 other fabulous gals to be a guest designer for Jillibean Soup. I rarely take the time to send my stuff in and was shocked and excited to be chosen. I just love this company's products! Thanks for the opportunity, Jillibean! You can see these same projects on the Jillibean blog today. Check out the other designers fabulous work while you are there!

I love my kids artwork, but I know I cannot save it all! This is my solution--take pictures of it! This layout was inspired by a layout my friend Kristen did awhile back. (She's a 2-page gal too!) The great thing about sketches is that you can flip them around anyway you want and get an entirely different look. I flipped this one upside down. I put my photos onto an 8x12 canvas in PSE and had them printed at Costco. Saved me a lot of time when I actually sat down to put together this layout. If you are unsure how to do photostrips in PSE, Kristen recently put together a great tutuorial.

This is our first year of homeschooling. Since I won't have the typical "meet your teacher" or "classmates" layouts, I wanted to document the different things we are studying this year. We learned all abuot bugs this month! The bugs are buttons with hand stitched legs.

Words cannot express how thanful I am to be married to this man. Here is my attempt. He is such an incredible dad to our three kids. I am one blessed girl.

These flowers are so fun and easy to make! I used my scallop circle punch and punched 8 flowers using double-sided paper. Stack all 8 flowers and poke a hole through the center. Insert a brad. Starting with the top layer, crinkle and fold each layer toward the center. Instant cute flower!

I cut this flower out of Jillibean's yummy Lentil Soup line.

Here's an idea of what to do with all of those beautiful scraps you have lurking around. Make a rainbow of color on your card! Inspired by a cool chic I know, Kinsey. I used a 5/8" circle punch for this card.

Another card with scraps of paper. This time I sewed a simple stitch to link them all together.

We are homeschooling our children and I thought this would be a fun home decor item to have hanging on the school room door. I picked this simple chalkboard up at Joann for less than $2.

Thanks for stopping by.

Check back tomorrow for Day 2 of Green Tangerines monthly kit! Have a great day!

day 1 green tangerines kit

It seems a little strange to be showing a Halloween layout right after Christmas . . . but oh well, here is Day 1 of the October/November Green Tangerines kit club. I love using black as a background once in awhile, especially when I have colorful pictures that I really want to stand out. I have 7 more kit club projects to share. Stay tuned and have a great Monday!

october/november green tangerines kit

Here is a sneak peak at what I'll be showing you next week!

I recently finished working with the Green Tangerines Kit for October/November. It did not disappoint! Usually each month stands alone, but due to some issues out of their control, they decided to combine the October and November kit into one. The December kit is set to release on Tuesday. If you are wondering why the kits are released when the month is over, my pal Kristen has a great explanation on her blog. As a Design Team, we have a short time frame to get our projects turned in for them to display in the store and in the Kit Club Gallery. I'll start to share my completed projects here next week. Have a great weekend!