what's been happening

I feel so behind in EVERYTHING!! I have not had a free moment to get my thoughts together enough to blog in ages. Crazy time of year. But I do have some pictures to share of what we have been up to. At least some of the time!

We decorated the tree. This is the first year since hubby and I have been together that the tree does not contain a single Hallmark ornament!! This year for my sanity, I decided that I was not unwrapping six huge totes of Hallmark ornaments and putting them all on the tree while the kids ran around playing and ignoring hubby and I. It was a very liberating moment. Instead we purchased a few sets of ornaments at Walmart and some new white lights. The colors on the tree are red, silver, gold-ish and brown. Very pretty. I think Kira misses the Hallmarks as she would not participate in the decorating but she didn't help when we had the others either!! 

Alex however was all for helping! And a big step in my letting go this holiday season... I did not move a single ornament after he placed them. So what if two snowflakes ended up right next to each other. It is a wonderful tree and I am so happy he enjoyed decorating it with us!!

Our elf on the shelf has returned for the holiday season and brought a new friend. We now have Scout and Cookie and they have been having a great time getting into trouble and just plain being silly. That will have to be a whole series of posts to share their holiday adventures!!

On this day, they had left the kids new Angry Birds jammies!! Can you tell they like them??

We went to the annual Christmas party at the Rec Center while daddy was working one Saturday. Oh so much fun!! Kira had Rudolph painted on her cheek and was very proud to show him off.

Santa even came to visit!! The kids said he looked silly with his painted white eyebrows but still managed to tell him what they wanted. Adorable!!

Alex won one of the raffles!! This huge and soft bear is named Edgar Six (and yes there are five more bears named Edgar in our house) He was so happy!!!

We also took the kids to see Santa at the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts. I love the set up they have for Santa and they are always so friendly and kind to the kids. We love going there. The kids enjoy it because we go to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Christmas traditions.

I LOVE this picture that the photographer captured. AMAZING!! Then they even emailed me the other three they had taken. Pretty stinking cool. I think it was an oops but I am taking it and am now the proud owner of four great pictures with Santa for this year!!

I have also been a baking fool for the past three weeks. My kitchen and I need to separate as my hubby is missing me. But totally loving the cookies!! After breakfast this morning I need to get baking again and finish wrapping presents. Going to be a busy one.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! I do hope to be around more in the New Year!! 

last sketch challenge of 2012

I made it to the end of the year with doing a layout every month! This month's was especially hard and I almost didn't make it. I was sliding in pretty close to the cut off time. Hate when I get sick and can't function.

Anywho... here is the sketch we had to work with. Pretty neat and I think I shall keep this in the pile of sketches to use again. Basic in layout but can be embellished like there is no tomorrow. Or left pretty sparse as mine is. (told you I was on a time crunch!!)

And here is my take on the sketch. Pretty much went with what they had. The small picture on the left hand side was placed along the top like the one next to it and I couldn't get it back off to lower it so I added in a small white box to play off the white title on the second page.

These pictures are from Christmas 2008! I'm a few years behind. :)  Alex was big time into Blue's Clues and desperately wanted a Handy Dandy Notebook so he could play along with the show/ DVD/ VHS tape. Finding one was no easy feat and the price.... oh my word. Highway robbery!! The things we do for the kiddos. I will admit it was the best gift that season. He carried it around everywhere and wrote down his clues. I steered away from many embellishments mostly because I was short on time and I love the pictures so much I wanted them to be the focus. I used chipboard letters and rub ons for the titles. Happy to have this done and heading for an album!! 

Okay... honestly... between me and you.... (don't tell) this will be heading into an envelope of other layouts that need to be put into albums. But it did sound good saying it was going to an album. Remember... don't tell!! ;)

the once a year invasion

Yup, if you are of the female variety of human, you know the drill and know that it is coming. You may even be tempted to put it off because really, who wants to be in THAT position and try to relax while maintaining a conversation. Now add in the stress of the holidays. oh yeah tons of fun!!

Yes it is the dreaded Pap smear/ gynecological exam time. Mine is coming up next week (I know you all needed to know that) and I have a friend who had the pleasure last week. Normally this isn't a topic of conversation on my blog but I feel it necessary to share. You see, my friend, the ever witty Kathy has written an amazing blog post about this time of the year. You HAVE to read it. Seriously you cannot live a minute longer without reading it. After you read it, share with others. She has given permission to pimp her out. Guess she needs some extra cash this holiday season. :)  Go forth and share the word of Kathy.

The most wonderful time of the year...

If you are lucky enough to have your annual exam scheduled for a less stressful time of the year, I bow down to you. Count your stars and don't skip that appointment.

Me?? I'm thinking I am putting a bow on me and that will be my family's gift this year. From me to them- another year of me being in their lives.

card purse/ gift bag

My parents were in town for the holiday weekend and of course mom and me did some Black Friday shopping. This year we waited until around 8am to head out. Our favorite time to shop was at 4am, this midnight thing is no fun for us so we opted out. We did manage to find a present for one of her friends and she asked if I could create a gift bag for her. Well sure I can do that! So off to my office I went. 

This could be used by the recipient for another purpose once she receives it. I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I would have liked another sheet of the pattern paper to make the handles with, but sometimes you have to work with what you have on hand. Thanks for stopping by!!

May all your handles match perfectly!

terri's treasures gift card holders

I made a bunch of gift card holders for terri's treasures for the upcoming holiday season. I had a good time making them, now it's time to set them free to new homes. If you are interested in any of these, check out my website or email me. 

I have even included some pictures of the inside of the holder. These are so much fun and I can make pretty much any occasion you need!! :)

newmarket halloween haunt

I will start out by saying that this years haunt was much warmer than last years. It was so bitter cold out that we couldn't stay after the parade, the poor kids were frozen solid. This year, the sun was shining and it was lovely. We had a great time as a family doing the fun free stuff the Rec Center offered (thanks to many generous donations!!)

Here is my guy striking a pose as the Hulk!! He looked so adorable all dressed up. Love him!!

Here they are together. And I actually got a smile out of Kira. Who happens to be an Umbreon (Pokemon character) Nana made her costume and she won first prize in her age group!! Most of the day she was cranky as all get out. We had had a bad week of temper tantrums and lots of yelling having to do with school and tween drama. After she won, her mood improved greatly. whew. Love her too!!

Alex was able to get into the bounce house. He looks so cute without the hands and head jumping around with all those muscles! Very proud of myself for getting this shot.

So happy we got to spend that time together outdoors. Winter is coming and I am not looking forward to that at all!

May you have a spook free day!!

smooches = thank you

At least it does to me and this great cow stamp!! The stamp set is from Paper Smooches. Love their adorable characters and the phrases. The stamps work amazingly well. Even for someone like me who is not that great when it comes to stamping. Good thing I have lots of paper to practice on!! :)

Yesterday on the Paper Smooches blog a lovely prize package was being offered up to a randomly drawn winner for posting a Thank You card. I do believe that smooches does equal saying thank you!

I made this card for a sample for my card party last month. I LOVE the cow. I mean seriously- how cute. And pink. Well what fun is it to color in a white cow?? Absolutely none. I used my EK Success colored pencils that I have had forever to color the image. I don't think I am ready for Copics. I certainly know my hubby is not ready for me to be into Copics. And neither is the bank account. I can see that becoming a costly addiction/ necessity.

I used paper from DCWV summer stack from eons ago. I like how the pink pops out from the other colors. I used my nesties to cut the cow out, popped with pop dots and a paper punch for the sentiment. A little bit of rick rack I had in my stash and there you go... a heartfelt thank you card.

I would love to win the drawing. Really I would. I have one package of their stamps. I NEED more. :) I have a rather large list of Paper Smooches stamps that I would give my firstborn to own. Seriously... they are that amazing. Check them out.

May your day be full of smooches!!

superstorm sandy

I mean just look at her!! WOW! What a storm. Flooding in NYC, snow in West Virginia, crazy winds everywhere. I am happy to see her fade away but I know the aftermath will continue for days (weeks) to come. 

We were so very lucky to have not lost our power this go around with Mother Nature. I am very grateful. Of course we were more than prepared to lose it. Hubby spent four days cleaning up the yard of sticks, branches and leaves so they wouldn't go flying through windows. We cleaned up the garage and did a test run of the generator. That was tricky as the spark plug was quite disgusting and not easy to get to. But we were set. We even had the cord running up the deck stairs and attached to the railing to the kitchen so we wouldn't have to do that during the storm (been there done that). Last night before it got dark, we ran another cord into the house for the downstairs. 

I had also been baking like a crazy woman to ensure we had yummy treats for our tummies. Now I have chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, brownies and chocolate chip mini muffins. Guess we should get eating! I am sure they won't go to waste. :)

Hubby and I went to Walmart on Friday and loaded up two carts of stuff for the storm. Okay some of which was Christmas related but we love to get that stuff done before the craziness begins and we didn't have the kids! Always a plus.

Maybe we were so prepared we scared Sandy away from us. Probably not but I'll go with that. Glad to see her gone. I am keeping everyone who has been affected by Sandy in my thoughts and prayers. Nature is nothing to mess with. And on the plus side, we are ready for the snow to fly this winter. The generator is all gassed up and ready to go and we have two five gallon containers of gas to run it. Not to mention the water we now have on hand!!

Very happy to see the sun today.

May Mother Nature shine down on you as well.

hole in the smile

Yup it happened. Alex worked that tooth until it popped out while he was at school. Such a brave boy. Much more than his mom or his sister!! Look at that smile!!

I was volunteering in his classroom so I was able to snap this picture of him wearing his tooth necklace from the nurse. He was so proud of himself. I am thinking the others around the new tooth don't stand a chance of being around for long as the new tooth is pretty darn big!! I think we will have many visits from the tooth fairy in our future. And don't forget to look at that terrible bedhead he has!! oh my. You would never know I did run a comb through his hair before school!!

First tooth = $5 and a set of mini Muggs in Captain America and Red Skull. He was happy so that is what is important. :)

May the holes in your life be filled with happiness!

october sketch challenge card

I have been a busy little creator the past couple of days. Love it!! Below is the sketch for the Christmas card Facebook group I am in.

This is a really fun sketch. So much so I used it for this card as well as on a card I made my mom and a set of birthday cards. Totally loved it. Really I did.

Papers from a holiday stack from years ago. Heat embossed the sentiment and the snowflakes with gold embossing powder. Sewed around the edges, added some white twine-looking string and pop dotted the scalloped circle. Very happy with it.

Thanks for looking and stopping by!! 

october sketch challenge

It is that time again! Time for another sketch challenge reveal! I know you all couldn't hold your breath waiting. LMBO!

Anywho... here is the sketch we got to use. One of those amazing PageMaps I totally love to use!!

And here is my take on it. I dug out some pictures from our 2010 Walt Disney World trip for this sketch. I had found these papers and knew exactly what pictures I would use with them. I totally love these pictures of the kids driving the race cars in TomorrowLand. Alex was a pretty good driver. Kira was a crazy all over the place driver. She used the rail the cars run on to steer. It made for quite a neck jarring experience!

I think I need to work on a tooth fairy box for Alex. He has his first loose tooth and he keeps playing with it. I don't think I am ready for my baby to start loosing his teeth.

May all your journeys be smooth today!

liebster award

*I can't fix the white on this post. And do not really want to retype this whole thing. Sorry*

Susan!! I love you so much! Thank you for adding me to this great list of winners. My blog was started as a way for me to share with family and friends what I do with all my scrapping stuff that I collect. And to tell tales of the kids and their happenings growing up. It is nice to think there are others out there who are inspired by my ramblings and postings. Thank you for thinking of me and following my blog.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Liebster is a German word meaning "Beloved," "Favorite," or "Dearest." This award is a peer to peer award in which fellow bloggers present the award to their favorite bloggers with less than 200 followers. The origins of this award is unclear, but is believed to have originated by a German blogger. This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion to share your dearest and most beloved blogs that have less than 200 followers.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

PAY IT FORWARD
Now comes the hard part… choosing 5 bloggers to share this award with!  Wow not an easy task. I follow many great blogs and it was hard to choose just five. 

I would send this back to Susan in an instant as she is an amazing scrapper/ artist. Seriously check out her blog and you will be following her and loving on her instantly.

Onto my list-

• Kory's SCRAPiVERSE: Seriously an amazing talent! I stumbled onto Kory at Scrapbook.com on the message boards. His sense of humor is only  matched by his scrapping talent. I enjoy reading about his shopping adventures and seeing the end results of his projects. You need to be following him. Go. Now. I will wait. 
• Tina's Wooded Views: I have enjoyed looking at Tina's creations since MSN Groups. She has a huge heart and intensely amazing talent. You will enjoy your time hanging at her blog. Trust me.  You will be just as hooked as me!
• Debbie's Telling Our Story: I love looking at all her amazing layouts. My favorite part is her use of sketches. I love me some sketches and Debbie uses them so wonderfully. If you have hit a scrapping block, check out her blog and those creative juices will once again be motoring. Oh yes they will!!
• Nicole's A Scrapper Mom's World: I have known Nicole for many years. We met at an MSN Group and I have loved her style since then. Her cards are little works of art and her layouts make me green with envy. (all in a good way) You will love what you see, so go look!!
• Shabby Jo Designs: I found this gal on Scrapbook.com and love her work. The cards she creates with scraps makes me want to run naked through her scraps as they are incredible. Okay maybe not naked but you get the idea!! She has some of the best scraps and has this talent to make them look amazing when she is done with them. You totally need to go and check it out.

Please take the time to visit all these fantastical blogs. Seriously these artists are some of my favorites and I know they will soon be some of yours as well. Leave the love when you visit. Thank you!!

And thanks again to Susan for thinking of me. Love you girl!!

did you feel that?

Tonight we had a bit of a scare at the house. There was a 4.5 earthquake in Maine which shook us here in New Hampshire. Heck, I have friends in Rhode Island that felt it. (story) 

I would like to say I felt it, but alas I did not. Alex and I were downstairs getting him ready for bed while Kira went upstairs to finish her bedtime prep. I heard a rumble which I thought was a train since they go by all the time and have become common place for us (twelve years will do that to you) and didn't think anything of it...

Until Kira came running down the stairs freaking out. I mean seriously I thought she had come face to face with a live critter in her room she was so scared. She tried to explain to me that the house shook and she felt a bang. I start thinking that maybe a branch had smacked into the house from our two maple trees that need to be removed before they actually do fall on the house. It was quite windy today and it could have happened.

I got dressed for the weather (chilly) and went out to investigate turning on all the outside lights that I could. Grabbed the flashlight too to scare away whatever might have been climbing the house (hey you never know!) Checked the back of the house by Kira's room. Nothing. Roof looked good. Side of the house looked good. Time to check the front of the house. No major branches on the ground or against the house. Walked up the front lawn to the road to see if anything had landed on the roof- nope nothing up there either.

Having no clue and the house looked good, I went back inside to tuck the little monsters in for the night. As we were all getting into the fun of relaxing and going to sleep, the phone rang. Hubby calling. He asked if I felt it. Felt what?? That is when he told me about the earthquake that I missed even though I was in the thick of it. I heard it, does that count?? And it did freak my munchkin out so I guess I can say I survived it.

Then I hopped on to Facebook and man... what a chatty bunch of characters I call my friends. My whole news feed was about the earthquake. Then my cell beeped with the update from the local television station. I feel so left out. Like I missed something big.

Of course I say this in with a note of humor, I do not need to live through anything bigger than that or any closer. Being on the outskirts suits me just fine for this type of adventure.

May your day be house shaking free!

you are invited

To look at these fun Halloween party invitations I created for an amazing lady I know. I love challenges and that is what these were. She wanted something simple and cute Halloween not scary Halloween. I saw these papers and knew I was hooked!! Too bad I didn't buy enough of them!! Augh! I calculated wrong in my head. Lesson learned. Write down the amounts before heading out to the store. Not saying they didn't work out, but not exactly as planned. :)

This first one there are three of these. I love the double sided goodness that is these papers. Yummy!!

These are the ones that I messed up on the quantity of paper. There are six of this invite. But like I said, I like them both so much!!

And here is the insert all ready to be filled in. I had to use many different Studio G dollar stamps to get this. I do believe I need to invest in an invitation stamp for the future. Not that this didn't work and it didn't really take that long, but I think it could be easier.

Orange gingham ribbon was from my stash and has been here for quite awhile! I put a piece of orange cardstock on the back of the pocket to cover my less than wonderful stitching. I could not get the tension right to save my life. It looked fine on the front but the back was a nightmare (definitely headed for the scary Halloween) Plus adding the cardstock helped with the fact that the pattern paper was upside down from being folded in half. Next time I know what I will do different. So I guess it is all good in the long run.

I am now all done with my orders and will be bored if I don't get any soon. Seriously... going to work on some of my own stuff for a bit. It will be a nice change.

May your day be as wonderful as a party!!

triple the fun!

I had an order for a set of cards for a set of triplets. How cool is that?? They are eighth grade girls so I went with some bright (but not too bright) colors with bling. Because who can resist bling?? Not me!

I made each of them a card portfolio to hold their set of four cards and put their initial on the front as well as on the cards. I used the same design on all of them but with different paper combinations from the same paper line. Totally fun. The first three pictures show the portfolios closed and set to go.

This one shows you the inside of the portfolio with the cards inside.

And here are the cards for each girl. Used a bunch of bling and liquid pearls and some sewing.

May your day be triple special!!

do you like mice?

And I mean the cute ones. The ones NOT in your house or garage. The ones from House-Mouse are some of my favorites (besides the obvious love of Mickey). The images I used were from their e-card section. So darn cute!! I could NEVER and I really mean NEVER ever hope to color these images in from a stamp. I have my limits and know what I can and cannot do. Coloring in these adorable mice is nothing I could achieve. All the paper used on these cards is DCWV Nana's Kids stack. I love the colors and the images went along so well. 

The card box below is what houses these adorable mouse cards. I really hope the lady who receives this box of goodies enjoys them as much as I have.

May there never be mouse droppings in your house!

card order

Another card order from my card party that is complete! So very happy for that. I totally love making these cards but it feels so darn good when they are complete and I can get them to their new owners. Love that!!

These papers were from a Holiday stack I picked up a couple years back. Then Sybill got to cut out the Noel. A little sewing and bling and Merry Christmas to you!!

I love the springy-ness of this card and better still... I got to use some of my twill stash from eons ago!

A couple of criss cross thank you cards. I used my Cuttlebug for the present stamp and added some of my newly purchased bakers twine from K. Andrews website. It is lovely but feel I might have to hit up the Twinery for some other colors that she doesn't carry. I need a couple of pinks, a dark blue, light orange, brown and maybe a dark green. :)

Same card different color grouping.

May you always find the correct sentiment for your day!