I love these shots of Jonas and me. They really capture our personalities.

To make this layout:
1 12x12 white cardstock.
3 pics trimmed to 4x4
trim the scallop out of the EarlyBird paper
12 inches of matching ribbon
and add a title decorated with two bits of Early Bird chipboard
Line up all of your strip and then write across the top of the photos.

And while I’m here. . .bonus card! Bon Appetite!

I am trying hard to up my card stash, as I have had several occasions needing cards lately and I haven’t had a one on hand! This is also Cosmo Cricket Early Bird. I love the silverware!

I’m in a card mood, so I used up some pretty scraps and made this for a friend. Lovely Early Bird paper and chipboard.

We are ok here. It has been a crazy few weeks. It just will not slow down and every time I turn around I’m swamped. Many mornings Chris asks me what i have to do that day- I tell him one thing. . .and then I don’t have a moment to catch my breath from sun up until sundown. It is unbelievable. I think I may need to schedule myself some sort of “time off” - a week or two where I refuse to commit to anything. . .sacred days in the middle of June where I just breathe. . .I wonder if that’s possible?

I am busy working this week. I am ordering some fun new stuff for the Nook (copics, stamps, new paper lines- all droolworthy). I’m also running a big contest and starting pre for a new Design Team call.

Chris attended the funeral of a friend and co-worker today. This very young Airman passed away last week in a motorcycle accident on his way into work. Chris was asked to stand solemn guard over his body today at the wake, which is an honor, but also very emotionally draining. This loss has taken a toll on my husband, and I wish there was more I could do. We are reminded again of how fragile life is and how quickly things can change. It was quite the Memorial Day weekend.

Gabe is darling. He is growing every day, smiling, talking sweet baby talk, and being generally wonderful. When J.M. Barrie wrote:

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

He was dead on. Because Gabe laughed, and I tell you, there were fairies.

I did this funny layout for a little challenge I’m hosting over at the Nook. The theme is “Keepin’ It Real.” I shot this revealing photo one day when I had left the camera in the bathroom after taking some photos of Gabe on his changing table.

If you have the urge to scrap lift, cut a spinner card into a circle and then in half. Cut a 4x12 strip of yummy Cosmo Cricket Apron Strings paper. Use a scallop border bunch to punch a 12x1 inch border for the side of the Apron Strings paper. Mat your 4x4 pic with the same red. Arrange the spinner half circles around the photo, add some home made paper posies, add your title and little journaling and then go nuts with the pretty, pretty butterflies and sprinkle them about. I used some leaf pins on my paper flowers as well. Also- ink everything with black ink.

Thanks for looking!

“Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same….”

Pete Seeger knew what he was talking about. I sing this song every time I drive through San Francisco. I couldn’t help but sing it when I made my own ticky tacky little houses for our Cosmo Cricket/Tattered Angels Bloghop! I don’t know how many of you have been following a long, but I am near the end of a long line of inspiration as the two design teams have met the challenge of using the products together.

I used a gorgeous mix of green and blue Glimmer Mist to get the color I needed to match the Early Bird paper. I sprayed the glimmer mist on my chipboard house pieces, and I did the “shingles” using Kraft cardstock and my apron lace punch. It is hard to see in the photo, but the shingles have a lovely shimmer quality, much like the inside of an abalone shell.

See the cute door?

Here is the side of the town house.

I was very pleased with how the mist worked with the chipboard! It can be hard to match chipboard pieces as color usually seeps into the chipboard, rather than keep a true shade on top. Misting is SO much easier than trying to cover that with paper, and gives it a much more interesting look than flat paint.

Covering these houses was actually quite simple. I used a liquid adhesive and trimmed the paper to fit top to bottom, and then wrapped the paper around, rather than cutting out individual sides. The striped paper made for a quick and easy scalloped border, and the self adhesive chipboard around the windows was fast too.

For the shingles on the bungalow, just punch some border strips and adhere them to punched strips of paper- adhere the paper on one side, but let the side with the strips over lap and bend up.

I added just a bit of faux stitching for a little added visual interest.

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the bloghop!

8 years as of May 24. The hardest and best years of my life. And we still like each other!

Martha Stewart butterfly punch, black Basic Grey letters (yup- kinda hooked on those), Quickutz green letters, Studio Calico and Sassafrass Lass papers, apron lace punch.

I am blogging once more about the Making Life Better website. Not only are they keeping up with some very fun topics (today there are tips or great Memorial Day yummies and gardening with your children), but they have added a new cooking section with a bunch of YouTube videos designed to teach you how to be a better cook! I am in a huge recipe rut right now, so this is a pretty neat feature.

This website still sucks me in because it is the online version of a conglomeration of several supermarket checkout stand magazines, only free and updated more frequently. A little fashion, a little Mom, a little cooking. . .good stuff.

Man alive.

This is one heck of a two week period. I have been incredibly busy. I have 3 large design team projects going- all of which I cannot share until June, which is why the scrapping is a bit slow, sorry. I am also just wrapping up a custom order that has been hanging over my head for quite some time. My entire scrapbook room looks like a bomb went off.

End of the year school stuff is in full swing and I can hardly keep up with all the recitals and awards and extra curricular. Jonas is jumping reading levels at warp speed, but we still bicker over homework. Tonight he filled in all of his book report spaces with, “This book is stoopid and nobody likes me and everybody is mean.” Uh-huh. Stoopid, indeed.

We’ve been out and about and back and forth and doing so much that I can hardly see straight. I did not get a break last week, and this week, my break was a dental appointment. Wow. Good break. It was so much fun finding out that I needed a root canal that I think I’ll keep up the fun and schedule a pap smear on my birthday. Let the good times roll! Sheesh.

Work has been INSANE. For someone reason, a simple site upgrade turned into a OH NO! WE BLEW UP THE MESSAGE BOARD! AND THE GALLERY! AND THE E-MAIL! AND THE STORE! And now my inbox is overflowing with people who are concerned. I *think* all the bugs are worked out now- *whew* On an awesome note, the June Scrapbook Nook kit got here today and it is perfect.

I do so love my Cosmo Cricket. If you love this- it is a $38 value for only $28,and if you get a membership, your first month is free. So is your 13th. Can’t beat that.

Gabe, not so much with the setting down. Unless, of course, Chris is taking him for an hour or so, in which case he will sleep like a log and save the meltdowns for me.

So I am feeling just a tish overwhelmed. I think I am stretched too thin. I am still trying to find the balance of three children, the balance of a baby. I’m learning. Life is a process. I’m not too worried. This will get figured out, even if I’m freaking out a bit today. Even though I have hours of work, I decided to go for a good walk tonight once people were in bed. I walked for an hour, talking a mile a minute on the phone and just released. I find that I get so much on my plate that my mind wants to explode and I can’t think for panicking. Walking up hills pushing a stroller is such a good place to put all that nervous energy.

Now I need to go finish juggling my 16 plates, so I’d best get off the computer.

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