SAHM oh how i wish

All you Stay At Home Moms out there, oh how I envy you! I've been super sick this week and even though Maribel is finally feeling better despite that I feel like death warmed over, I'm so glad I got to stay home today. Other wise I would have missed this precious moment...

You see, Teddy needed panties too. But then Teddy needed to go potty. Maribel makes a great potty buddy ;0)

"Teddy went poopoo" Lucky for Teddy because Maribel is very thorough hee-hee

I know I'll get my chance to stay at home with my little onion someday but for now I'll soak in what precious moments I get.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go rescue poor Milo from a pair of pink and purple polk a dotted panties, I mean he is a boy after all.


>^..^<

circus fun

So what do you do when you are sick and tired of staying in bed? Scrapbook I say! My poor scrap space had been neglected these few weeks and I felt better enough to pay it a little visit ;0)

I love this circus paper but didn't really know how to scrap with it so it sat in my stash until finally, inspiration hit! After flipping through some of last years photos, I stumbled across Maribel's first visit to the Shrine Circus and had an A-HA moment! So with the perfect challenge at SkrapnChat and scissors and glue, and a lozenge or 12, a circus page is born.
Doo doo doodledo da doo doo doodoo...


>^..^<

je suis malade

Not feeling so hot today. I guess when everyone in my house is sick, the odds are pretty good that I would catch it too. I have my movies all picked out and some chicky noodle soup with some crackers all ready to go.

Maybe I'll pick up some new phrases as I just noticed that most of the movies I picked are French related. Hon Hon

Of course The Replacements isn't French but it's good for a few laughs to pick me up from my sicky mood.

Bonne journée!

>^..^<

paint me in your sunshine

It's reveal day at SnC for March's layout tag and if you remember I posted a teensie peak earlier this month. I got to be the lucky one to lift our darling Pam's page so here she be in it's entirety...I think Pam's page is better but I'm still happy with mine =)

Yes, the ever so yummy Dear Lizzy is back for the show ;0) Actually this is the first page I created using the DL line, I just couldn't show it til now ;0) Everytime I looked through Maribel's birthday party pics, this song kept coming in to my mind and I would hum it the rest of the day. I was inspired to actually paint the title as the song played in the background.
Looking back now, I should have flocked the bumble bee in brown instead of black to go with the page better. But if I've learned anything in this ever growing hobby is there's always next time and little things like that that would once be looked upon as a mistake really just makes that page more unique and more you.
I scrapbook because I love it.

>^..^<

5.2

That's the number of pounds I have lost from a week of kicking the Diet Coke and not eating past 8 o'clock.
 Yippee!! 
You see, I'm an emotional eater, always have been.

I'm happy~I eat.
I'm nervous~I eat.
I'm sad~I eat chocolate.
I'm mad~I eat.
I'm uber excited~I go out to eat.

My mom always joked I was on the SeeFood Diet. Yup, I see food I eat it. Well, that's mostly true. I draw the line at tripe and tongue. I have no desire of tasting something that could taste me back. *gag*

I know it's not much but I feel so much better already and really hope to continue this trend. Who knew that taking baby steps would result in half a dress size? 
Ooo and with all this eating better stuff I'm not as gassy any more. I won't tell you which end *snicker*

Happy Friday! *poot* *poot*

>^..^<

for pleasure and necessity

This weekend I cracked out my sewing machine and sewed pieces of cloth together! *gasp* I know!
This is the second time in 3 years since I sewed something other then paper and oh did it feel good. I swear at times I could hear my mother's spirit behind me saying, "Now THAT is what I bought your machine for!"

When I was about 12 my mother shared with me something that has been passed down to her from her mother which then came from her mother's mother etc. etc. etc.

If you marry a rich man, you can sew for pleasure
If you marry a poor man, you can sew for necessity

And like my mother, and her mother's mother etc. etc. etc. I have sewn for both.
And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.
I wonder if that explains why I can't walk by cute fabric with out having a slice for myself? yeah....that's it heehee

Living so far from my family I wanted to make M something special that she could have that would keep our family close when we are so far. In this book Stitched In Time by Alicia Paulson, I found this great little project that fit perfectly in what I was looking for.

Honestly it only took me an hour and $6.58 to make (the fabric paper was the bulk of the cost.) and I used scrap felt I had laying around. The author of the book also posted the instructions here but the whole book is adorable, trust me-I have my looooong list of projects I plan on creating.

"Diss is Papa, he in Canana. And 'dat's Aidan and Sherry, 'dey in Canana too. And 'dat's Milo, he's a boy. Want to pet him?"

I can't help but love watching her play her little game and telling me everyone's names. It also makes me a bit homesick though, but I think I'll manage. For now.....


>^..^<

sunshine and soda pop

Joe had to work the evening shift and left us girls to our own creative way to continue the day so Maribel and I had ourselves a little picnic in the park to celebrate the first day of Spring. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day drinking soda from a glass bottle and laughing our day away.

It was absolutely perfect weather, the sun was shining with a slight breeze to keep us cool and Maribel was quite content laying on my back asking me if I wanted, "piggy tails or a pony tail?"

Thank goodness for the self timer button or this memory would be pushed out by the next adorable thing M does. It also helps me realize that it's the little things that not only make me happy but keep me happy ;0)
I wish you a memorable spring with all the sunshine behind every cloud!

>^..^<

the rains came down...and the winner is

We ran through a few practice runs of my activity for the upcoming Primary gathering and had great fun building houses on the "rock" and the sand. Oh how the rains decended and the winds blew and great was the fun watching our foolish man's house go splat.

Maribel sang the children's song Wise Man and Foolish Man (for added drama) with the actions while I created the rain and wind. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the distruction of the worldly built home. *on the sand*

*psst* if you take a close look you'll see the winner's name for my little Dear Lizzy covered inspiration book is written in the sand since my lil' monkey wasn't exactly up to performing heehee...

DL Giveaway winner from Jennifer Carlberg on Vimeo.
Don't forget to turn off the music on the side bar ==>


YAY Julie from Canana!!! I have this all ready to go, just need you to email me your details to Funky4Pickles{at}gmail{dot}com :D
Now to get my little monkey to dance her way to bed....ha!
yeah right!

>^..^<

kiss me, i'm green

As I sit outside on my lunch break soaking in the beautiful sunshine sucking back a Shamrock Shake I thought I'd share some lovely's I'm sweetin' on today. It's a wonderful day to wear green don'cha think?

-Pairs in Pears game: Finally a game where I smoke Joe's toosh! Come on, he wins at every other game we play, I can at least have this one .
-If I Only Had A Green Nose-Max Lucado: I love his books. They always have a great message presented so sweetly and in adorable artwork.
-Rolled rosette made into a hair piece: I made a bunch of hair pieces for my darling sister in-law and then one little one for moi. It won't be long before M steals it from me for her red hair. But I don't mind ;0)
-Altered Couture magazine: seriously so much inspiration here, I don't even know where to start...
-Stamps in glass holder-Anthropologie: If I've been good I get to play in Anthropologie.
-Jeweled centered flower: A converted flower made into a hair clip for little M. She loves it when I make her stuff. As long as she wants it, I will keep making it.
-Green earrings: that inspire me to make more jewelry ;0)
-Shirt, picture frame and file folders-Liberty of London: EEP! I was squealing with delight when I saw that Liberty of London was hitting the shelves stateside! I really had to refrain myself from over indungance so I brought Joe shopping with me, he keeps me grounded.

It's a shame I have to head back in when it's so beautiful out. But the sooner I go in and finish my work the sooner I get to go home to my lovlies and play Wise Man and Foolish Man.
Note to self, find a nich so I can work from home, or outside at least... 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

>^..^<

adoption

Once there were two women who never knew each other

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it

The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name

One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears

One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears

One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do

The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?

Both, my darling, Both, Just two different types of love.

LEGACY OF AN ADOPTED CHILD

---- Unknown

This poem tugs at my heart strings in so many ways. Not only was I that child with two mothers, but I am also one of those mothers mentioned. We are getting close to the time where I will be telling Maribel about her birth mother. I'm still nervous about it, not sure why but I'm sure my mom was nervous too when she told me. All I remember is that I have always known that I was adopted and thought to to be so cool that I had two moms. Hey, I still think it's cool!

I was going through some old pictures and packing the things away for storage when I came across this photo of my Mom holding me soon after she got me. Yup, I was a little chunker still am but that's okay ;0)

It's almost been 3 years since a Florida judge banged his gavel giving Joseph and I full parental rights and priveledges to our beautiful little red head. Not a day goes by that I don't say a private Thank You to our Father in Heaven for blessing me with the awesome responsability of being a mother to one of his precious children.

Some close ups to the Both layout just click on the photo to get a closer look ;0)
I sculpted the needle and spool using polymer clay then  baked it with the pins inside. I love making mini things with clay, there's something extra special when you make things mini heehee. I made the roses too and used a butt load of Glossy Accents, I'm sure if I used less then I did it would have been fine, but I can't stop once I start. I need to invest in stock in Glossy Accents, I think...

Happy Monday!

I'll post the winner of the little Dear Lizzy covered inspiration book next ;0)

>^..^<

a girl with flare

Maribel was pretty proud that she got dressed for church all by herself. She has a sense of style all of her own. Trust me when I say that I wouldn't match her technicolour tights with her pettycoat and cotton dress. Her pretty Sunday socks are all tucked up safe and sound inside.

She thought she was hot stuff.

I just wanted a minimum meltdown day.

I was playing around with photoshop and thought this would be cute with a little flare to match M's flashy personality. Here is the before pic...

It was super easy and so much fun. Here's how to give a little flare to your photos...

I have PSE7 and created 3 copies of the background photo (ctrl J ) and named them from top to bottom; Contrast; Lighten; Lens Flare. You should have 4 pics on total now with the previous 3 and the background.

With the Contrast one, change the opacity to 50% and change from normal to soft light.

Next with the Lighten, change from normal to Lighten again change the opacity to 50%;

And finally with the Lens Flare go to Filter >render >lens flare. A little screen will pop up where you will get to move your "flare" where you would like. I also take this time to up the brightness level to about 150% or so. Also you can change your lens type to which ever one suites your fancy. Personally I preffer either the 50-300mm zoom or the 35mm. But anyone is cool. Once you've made your preferences click OK and you are done.

You can save it as is or you can tweak it a little more to your liking, like I did. I wanted to up the colour a little seeing that it was about 2 o'clock when I took this pic so I wanted to give a little colour boost too.

To do this I clicked on the Contrast layer and selected Layer >new adjustment layer >photo filter >OK Then another little box pops up with warming filter choices. You can click on the drop down box and choose which one you would like. For mine I chose Warming Filter (81) then OK. You can even double up on the Lens Flare too if you'd like. Just make a copy of your existing Lens Flare layer and repeat the same steps.

Once you are satisfied just save your project and voila! 

I hope I didn't lose you too much. But it really is super fun and a great way to give your photo a little boost. Too bad I couldn't give my body a little boost as easy as clicking a mouse *sigh*

>^..^<

a chu-chi woo-chi ooo-chi coo-chi pair

I have seen these sprigs everywhere and love them but when it's midnight and your local scrapbooking store is closed and you can't wait for shipping, what do you do? Well make your own of course! 
It is super easy and if you craft and/or scrapbook, then chances are you have everything you need already. Sure I could have waited til the next day to complete my LO, but if you are anything like me, when you have the spark, there's no waiting til tomorrow. Here is a list of the basic items you would need to make your own.

*~Material List~*
-florists tape
-craft wire
-craft wire cutters or scissors can work Just don't use your mother's cloth scissors or nice scrapbook scissors as the wire will have it's way with them and render them useless for nice projects. yes, I'm speaking from experience...
-beads of various sizes *I used 6mm Crystazzi beads they were on sale
-flowers small or med in size Prima ones are perfect =)
-clear drying glue
-glue dots for adhering the sprig to your page
 
To start, cut your craft wire various lengths but make sure you cut them long enough to double over. Like if you want your spriglett to be 7 inches long then cut your wire at least 13 to 14 inches long, capiche? Then you slide a bead down to the middle of the wire then twist about 3 twists, then slide your flower through both pieces of wire to the bead. Add a dab of clear drying glue to secure and then you’re ready to wrap the spriglett.
To wrap your new stem, take your florists tape and use the heat from your fingers to make it sticky and wrap all the way down.

If you would like to add leaves before the wrapping, take one piece of wire and slide the leaf (I used my circle punch to make mine,) to where you want it on the stem and twist, but be careful that you don’t twist to tight or you will rip the leaf. Yes, experience is speaking here. Just note that you will need to cut your wire about 4-6 inches longer if you add a leaf onto the same spriglett. Again, experience is peaking through in this one…
Once you have your desired amount of little sprigletts, just use that handy florist tape and bind them all together and you’re done. Then use several glue dots to attach your new sprig to your project and Voila! Your very own one of a kind embellishment!

Ahh L'amour!
Happy Friday everyone!
 
>^..^<

la dee dah

Someone recently commented on a layout I posted in the S'nC gallery (actually Pam I think it was you ;0) that my creativity must keep me up at night. Well, this is one of those that did. I couldn't go to bed until it was finished which was about 3 in the morning but that's what I get for starting a new page at 10 o'clock at night.
When I get the creative spark, I can't stop until that spark lands on some sort of finished creation.

I finally got my little chubs on the Dear Lizzy line and all I can say is Oh so delish! The papers are not only beautifully spring, but so lush to the touch! I couldn't wait to make something pretty throwing scissors and glue in the mix! I tried my hand at the ever popular rolled rosettes and I can see these babies gracing themselves on many more future pages yet to be brought to reality.

But I couldn't stop there....

No way. I had to make something else with the oh so lovely fabric adhesive paper so I made me a little inspiration book. I found this awesome tutorial on how to make your own fabric covered journal and couldn't wait to get started. Since the Dear Lizzy fabric paper comes adhesive backed, I was able to skip the spray adhesive step and just cut to shape.

I did however, machine stitched around the edging for added durability. I'm pretty rough on my notebooks as I like to carry them every where with me. You never know when something inspires out of the middle of nowhere. 
And since I love to give, I will make another one of these inspiration notebooks for a lucky someone. Just leave a comment and I will draw a winner this weekend.

I hope you had a wonderful hump-day! I know I did. It was my birthday today and talk about a wonderful day. Wooo-Wee!!!
A birthday post is forthcoming ;0)


>^..^<

it's a sunny day

*shake* *shake* *shake*
"Wake up mommy.
It's a sunny day!"

Gotta love 3 year old internal clocks! This was my 6:45AM wake up call.
All.
Weekend.
Long.
*blink* *blink*

I don't mind, too much. For rizzle. Because when it's a sunny day outside I'm sunny on the inside. Even with 4 hours sleep. I'm starting to realize the harsh reality that I am not 23 anymore. My stay up late, get up early days are numbered. Like, reeeeeeally numbered. Oh the things you do for creativity.

Here's a peek at the LO I finished for the monthly layout tag. I used all Dear Lizzy paper and embellishments with some Fancy Pants chipboard I've been hoarding. Ooo I so loved working with the Dear Lizzy paper. It's so lush and fun to work with even at 4 in the morning I still loved playing with it. ;0)

Sorry I can't show you the whole thing. I'm 2nd from the top this time so it will just have to do til later this month. Have a splendid day!

>^..^< 

knock knock

M: knock, knock

Me: who's there?

M: it's
'dust me, silly!

>^..^<

mmm cake

 
For my March challenge at SkrapnChat I wanted to start thinking outside the box. Literally. After realizing I had been eating Maribel's leftover party cake for 3 days, that's when it hit me. My layout shape would be delicious.

Of course I realize that Delicious isn't a shape but looking at all the yumminess here, I can't help but give it a new meaning ;0)


Paper, chipboard embelishments, and flowers by K&Company Handmade line; Lace by Prima; Wish tag by Tim Holtz; Thickers by American Crafts; Gold Leafing Pen; mini photo sleeves by 7Gypsies; Chandelier Trinket beads by Maya Road.

>^..^<