I'm still Team Jacob

Go see it.

That's all I have to say.

>^..^<

summer lovin'

Summer sure came in full force this year. We've been experiencing Hi 90's with lots of humidity and August is still yet to come. Aye yi yi!
So instead of hiding away indoors this summer, I thought it would be more fun to embrace the outdoors with some fun in the sun activities. Starting with the family favourite, the beach.

I couldn't resist these adorable beach molds seeing that in July we will be spending a week in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina with the ocean at our every beckoning call. But of course will will have to break them in at our favourite, Cocoa Beach, first. Maribel already tans better then I do, so not fair!!

I saw this movie for the first time last year and loved it. I wondered how I never saw it sooner. And while there will be enough family there to play with M in the sand I will be able to sneak in some time to catch up on my reading. This has been on my reading list for awhile so what better time then while on vacay!! I don't know what it is about reading a good book while the ocean waves crash at my feet. It's so calming. So serene.

Other finds include:
*Fun beach towel: Found at Target
*Lip gloss: SPF 20 which I need or my lips burn. True story.
*Red nail polish: Red toes always look so pretty in sandals ;o)
*Straw floppy hat: No beach experience is complete without one of these floppy straw hats.

Happy Summer!

>^..^<

a little tee reconstruction

Target was having a wicked sale on graphic tees this weekend and I saw one that I had to have. The only bummer part was that it was 3x’s too big. Nuts. But right as I was about to walk away I thought, “There’s gotta be a way to make it work!” so into my cart it went. :oP

When I got home I slapped in a Wallace and Grommit movie for M baby and went straight to work.
Here’s what you need to resize an oversized shirt. I forgot to photograph the monster sized shirt.Sorry.

Note: make sure that the fitted shirt you use is close to the same material so they stretch the same. Otherwise your new tee will be a little on the snug side. Yes, experience is speaking.

First thing is to lay both shirts flat and centered matching the shoulders smoothing out any wrinkles. Fold the sleeves of the fitted shirt in and trace the outline with a marking pen or chalk. Cut outside the markings for your seam allowance. I gave myself a ¾” seam allowance in this project. Mark the center of the shoulder with either a pin or chalk.

Next part is the sleeves. Take the fitted shirt and the sleeves you just cut off and match up the edge of the sleeves and mark the center of the sleeve. I used my heart pins as my center markings. Trace out the smaller sleeve and cut out leaving a nice seam allowance. Use your freshly cut sleeve as a pattern for the other side.

Now comes the pinning and poking. I always poke myself in someway no matter how careful I am. It’s like I’m a magnet or something. Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a little tangent. Anywho, open up the shirt and line up the center of the sleeve with the center of the shoulder and pin together. Next pin the two ends (outsides) of the sleeve to the armpits of the shirt with the right sides together and continue to pin together from the outside in towards the center. Make sure you don’t stretch your fabric or it will come out a little distorted. Again, experience is talking.

We are getting there!

Now off to the sewing room!!!

Sew the sleeves removing the pins as you go from one side of the armpit to the other. Back stitch your first and final stitches. I like to go over the freshly sewn seam for that added support. Make sure you don’t sew your shirt together. That’s coming up next and don’t forget to repeat with the other sleeve.

Back to the pinning and poking. Turn the shirt inside out matching the right sides together and pin the sides all the way down. Remember to pin the short under part of the sleeves for the armpits. Hee Hee What a funny word, armpit. Sorry. I’m tired, can you tell? Anywho, head back to the sewing room and sew up the sides removing the pins as you go. Turn right side out and admire your new shirt!

I like my shirts long so I left the length as it was but now would be the time to trim and hem the bottom to your liking. Slap on your new shirt and rock on or fight crime. Whatever.

I have a goal. It's a shrinking goal if you will. ;0) I realize that I will need to cut back on some *cough* *coughunhealthycough* habits so this will save me a few bucks as I go through the metamorphosis into the skinny, beautiful me that is hiding inside there. Somewhere.

Happy Sewing!!! Ooo a piece of candy!

>^..^<

galosh by gosh

It's been raining cats and frogs all day with very little sign of letting up so instead of staying couped up inside snacking on peanut butter and crackers (a family favourite) we headed outside for a little rain play.

Joe came outside to play with us and we decided to have a little family toothpick race to help celebrate Father's Day. Maribel watched closely to ensure that everyone stayed in the game and jumped a few more puddles. We decided to head in side after a few bright flashes but before running indoors I thought it might be a good thing to check out her boots first. 

Mini puddles in your shoes. Hee Hee Just fill your galoshes and slosh around a little. It's like holding a seashell to your ear to hear the ocean. Well, maybe not exactly like that but close enough.

Happy Father's Day!  

>^..^<

so florida!

I promise you that I had nothing to do with what you see in this photo. I swear.
*crossing heart with finger*
Have a wonderful weekend!
I apparently need to do some shopping this weekend. What are your plans?

>^..^<

my sister from a different mister

And so she is.

My Sister in law, Anna, is one super special gal! Not only is she the best Future Professional I know, but she's the best "see a movie at midnight" buddie too. We have caught every Twilight movie at opening night with another coming up eep!  She's never afraid to break out into song in the middle of Target and she pops a mean popcorn! Oh and she has the cutest freckles ever!!! tee hee  I love you like whoa too!

This was one of my pages that I had sitting out for the longest time unfinished. I just couldn't quite get it the way I wanted with a sort of rock star feel until I remembered I had some Tim Holtz Grungeboard chipboard hiding about. I painted them then used the Modge Podge glitter on top with some Glimmer mist for that added shazam! kapow! heiya!

Lately I've been into making my own clay buttons as seen on some of my recent pages.  I love how even the simplist thing can make a page so unique. I wonder if I could make my own clay cutters, 'cause molding them by hand is a ton of work. Hmmm that's got me thinking...
Look out! A brainstorm's a brewin'.

>^..^<

week in the life 2010

WARNING:

This post is not for the faint of heart. It contains an insight into my crazy life and some of my everyday things.

Just be prepared before scrolling down any further.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

I finally finished my week long project of documenting a Week In The Life of my life. Oi! This was an insane to the membrane project that took waaay longer then I thought but definitely worth it. It also made me realize that I'm one busy chica.

At first I wasn't sure if I could do this and I'll admit, midway through I thought about quitting the project. But I pressed on and kept on clicking even though I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to do with the photos afterwards. I found the journaling the be the toughest part if I didn't write it down right away, but that's where the pictures were helpful. So with out any further delay here is a typical week in my life ;0)
For a closer look, just click on the photos.

Title Cover

Monday

Tuesday

 Wednesday

 Thursday

 Friday

 Saturday

Sunday 

Final Page 

I wanted to keep it simple as this is the first time doing a project like this so I pretty much copied Ali Edward's template for doing this album and threw a little Jenn (moi) into the mix. Luckily I had most of the material and only had to purchase the baseball card sleeves and photo prints. Everything else I had on hand. Gotta love hoarding.

I hope you enjoyed a peek into my crazy life and that I haven't scared you off or made you gag too much. I have to say that it sure was an interesting journey that I will most definitely repeat next year. Only next time I will be more prepared ;0)

Materials Used:
Binder-Liberty London
Papers-KC& Co 'Handmade'; October Afternoon
Various Die Cuts-KC&Co 'Handmade'
Stickles
Stamps-Dear Lizzy

>^..^<

beaches and consequences

This morning Joe and I thought it would be fun to hit the beach before church gotta love the 1 o'clock start times.
so we packed a couple juice jugs and hopped in the car and made our way to Cocoa Beach. Well, it was that or laze around the house watching Retro TV eating crackers and peanut butter. This was better.

I wanted to try out some camera shots I read about and well.... I need to work on it some more. I didn't get any of the results I was hoping for. At all. *sigh* I'll keep trying but at least I had my Muse lens with me so all was not lost. My favourite was this one I captured of this surfer dude riding out. 

The weather was gorgeous and we managed a quick wave or two before heading back. But one thing I learned today is that I will not go to the beach without my little surfer chick again. Especially when I've missed her so much while she's away.

And if missing my boo wasn't enough, I learned the hard way to not eat at a Bithlo Burger King. I caught food poisoning from their ham and cheese sanny. That's not a fun lesson learned.
I guess I'm destined to eat those crackers after all.
>^..^<

tgif

I hope your weekend is a splash!

>^..^<

pip pip cheerio

Breakfast has never been on my list of things to do mostly because I'm usually in too much of a rush getting ready for work. But when you are up waaaaaaaay before your alarm I guess there's no excuse, eh?

Joe slept right on through our morning sillyness which might have been a good thing. We were looking a little rough first thing with me in my yesterday's hairdo still wearing yesterday's make up and Boo's fuzzy bed head. I'm not quite sure how quiet we were but usually when we're having fun, quiet skips town.

Speaking of skipping town, today my Boo is leaving for South Carolina *sniff* *sniff* with her Gma and Uncle Philly Willy (hee hee I love calling him that)  for a long weekend. I'm going to try my best not to think about how much I'm going to miss her. Instead, I'll be thinking about all the unfinished projects I hope to finish up while I will be "Mommy, whatcha doin'?" free. Ooo maybe Joe and I will check out Universal's new Wizarding World of Harry Potter...
I think I'll be well distracted ;o)

P.S. I have a correction to make on my previous post but that deserves a post all in itself...

>^..^<

q&a turtle talk

So remember this post where I announced our new arrivals and how Maribel named the little one Mae from one of her favourite movie, My Neighbor Totoro**?
Well...........Mae is actually a Ray.
Yup.
We had them sexed and it turns out that Ray is a teenage boy in turtle years. Go figure.

Ray

Even though we asked for all females, we are going to keep him. I mean, come on. Just look at that face. He's even picked up some of Moody's suave moves and tested them on our other ladies. Yeah...still needs to mature a little before any of that happens.

And of course I cannot forget about our nameless one. She's been giving Moody the cold shoulder lately but I have caught a glimpse of a spark between those two so she now has a name.

Moxy The Foxy Box Turtle of Terrapin Revisited Part II.

Well okay, okay, Moxy for short.

One Foxy Turtle from Jennifer Carlberg on Vimeo.

I still have suspicions that she's a he but I'm not a vet nor a super turtle expert. Moody doesn't seem to care so we're leaning towards that she's a girl. We'll see if we get any eggs or not. Our fingers are crossed.

I thought I would also take this time to answer your questions from the earlier turt post.
So here goes...

Hollee asked: Ok - those are some seriously adorable amphibians! Just cuz I'm curios...what happens if Bachelor doesn't connect with Bachelorette??

A: Well, that's simple. Moody will just have to do with out. We've reached our legal limit so we can't say we didn't try.

Kim asked: How fun is this!! Are they affectionate at all? Do you let them wander through the house or are they in a restricted area? And do they spend time outside with you? I would imagine it would be a bit challenging to put a leash on them... *heehee*

A: I wouldn't call them affectionate like a cat or a dog but they do have personality. Moody and April will follow me across the cage when I walk by if they see their food dish coming and they let me stroke their heads where most turtles would hide from that. I still go to my furballs when I want a cuddle.

As for their living quarters we have a 65g tank we keep them in filled with special turf called Country Critter. It's specially designed to break down if wet and is made from a source of fibre that won't hurt their digestion if they eat a pellet or two. (I'll insert a photo when I have a chance with better light.) We don't let them wander around the house too much because of the cats and Maribel, but we do bath out turtles because they can carry Salmonella so we like to be extra cautious. We buy Purell by the gallon.

We let them play outside as much as possible so they can get the natural sunlight and stuff. But after awhile they just end up hiding inside their little outdoor house so we bring them back in.

Pam says: I have no experience with turtle but these are soooo cute. Love the photos. PS - what do turtles eat?

A: Their favourite food is meal worms, night crawlers and crickets-anything protein but they also like a good fruit salad. We purchase a canned fruit mix specially designed for Box Turtles and they tend to like it.

April

But nothing says "Please sir, may I have some more?" like a good fat and juicy worm. Mmm Mmmm

Elloise and April sharing a night crawler dinner

I hope I answered your questions okay and give you a little insight to our turtle loving home. Thanks for reading and watching and stay tuned for some upcoming tutorials I've been working on.
If you can sew a straight stitch, you can make these!

**Edited to add in the correct movie. Thanks to the ever watchful sister that is always there to keep me on track.
>^..^<