Mother's Day 2012

I hope all of you enjoyed your Mother's Day.

I surely did.  It wasn't about the gift (cause my gift was Valentine's Day and Mother's Day rolled into one...)
it was about the serenity of the day.

We came home from church and grilled out.  I didn't feel like fighting the crowds at a restaurant in town.

After lunch I helped Evan get his LAST book report of the year out of the way.
(p.s.  I'm SO GLAD that is done!  For my son who is not a reader like I am, 4 book reports a year was killer for him.)

Then Evan and I went outside with Grace to practice volleyball before volleyball camp starts up again in June. (Dad was taking a nap inside.  Sometimes that's for the best...)

After that, I picked my own bouquet from my flower beds.

peonies...my favorite!

After that, I planted some pansies in the pots on the porch while Grace read on the lawn and Ev played DS on the porch beside me.

After I made sure Ev's lunch was packed for his field trip tomorrow, the coffee pot's alarm was set, the towels were folded, and my clothes were picked for work tomorrow, I went upstairs to my craft table.

It's been SO long since I had time to sit up there.  I turned the laptop onto the movie MONEYBALL and got to work scrapbooking.

I only got 2 2-page layouts done...but it felt good getting back in the groove.

Grace and Brent even washed the van for me.

It's been a great Mother's Day.  Very relaxing.  Very low-key.  I loved it.

Now, a Mother's Day for these ladies...a much different story.

When we counted last night there were 9 mothers and 16 babies!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

I'm in LOVE

There are many things that get me excited...creative-wise at least.

I've been wooed by scrapbook paper, embellishments, wrapping paper, and ribbon.

I've oohed and ahhed in a store aisle, out loud mind you, much to my daughter's embarrassment.

But there is just one brand in the scrapbooking world I keep going back to. 

They are VINTAGE. They are SASSY, they are just plain WONDERFUL.  (And no, I'm not getting paid to endorse them....although I would take their product freely!)

October Afternoon.

If you haven't encountered them, you must.  You can go here to see the collections.

Take for instance this glorious 12x12 page...

from their holiday collection, which can be bought here or here, by searching under October Afternoon.  I can totally envision a Christmas layout with this.

And these embellishments to go with it of course...

You might even check out their new farmhouse line, which I plan to do in greater length.

I mean, there are stickers that show a YELLOW farmhouse.  I HAVE A YELLOW FARMHOUSE!  (it was meant to be.)

You might even think about using one of their other lines to make this. 

Swoony.


They even sell fabric. 

I think I might die.  Right here.  Right now.

Ideas are swirling around in my head...if only I had the time!

So, check them out.  It's worth your time.  It's definitely worth your money.

Just don't have a heart attack in the aisle!

Make the time

Make the time.

I certainly need to follow my own advice here.

I mean really.

At the top of my steps on a landing that could be a bedroom if walls were put up, is my craft room.

It's everything I want it to be, except it doesn't get used as much as I would like.

Everything is in order, everything is colorful, everything "spurns" creativity....but there just isn't enough time each day to get it used.

I'm sad about that.  Because more than anything, I would love to have time each day to use it.

Along with my role as mom, employee, PTO member, etc., I'm a scrapbooker.  I have been for years, but as life gets busier and busier, time to sit down and create gets harder and harder.

This is the scrapbook I use.  It's made by Making Memories and it's a 3 ring binder.  I LOVE it because you can get a lot of pages in it.  Problem is, I bought it at Target a couple years ago, and they don't sell it anymore.  Just my luck!

Yesterday, however, I sat down for a couple hours, and whipped out some pages.

When I say whipped, I mean whipped out as in quickly.  I'm not sure why I'm sharing some of these, they are not up to my usual standards, but I'm showing you as proof that I sat down and did something.

I'm a year behind with pictures, and that's another thing that makes me sad.  I don't mean I haven't taken pictures in a year, no, I take pictures almost everyday, but I'm a year behind in putting them in books.

So, without further ado, here is what I worked on.  (disclaimer...for some reason, the pics turned out kinda fuzzy.  Don't know if it was the lighting or the fact I didn't take the pages out of the plastic sleeves, or what...sorry.)

My kids had so much fun with their Grandparents the day they took them sledding!

Easter last year.  This might be the last time they every "search" for eggs.  They are getting so grown up.

Our life during the summer revolves around the baseball diamond.  This was a year ago, and already they are so much bigger, and much better players!

Evan's Sonic birthday party was a blast last year.

I try to only highlight the "major events" throughout the year, or else we'd have dozens and dozens of scrapbooks.  I keep a school book for each kid that is only about them, and then I have one family book that has everything else.

Since fall break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas break are around the corner, I know I'll get caught up, I usually do.

Moral of the story....TAKE time to do what you love.

I certainly need to heed my own advice.

Happy Monday!

Chicago and a project

Yesterday we returned from a 3-day weekend away to one of our standard vacation spots. (Really, we go there every summer. I guess we're creatures of habit.)

Chicago.

While it's fun to get away, and exciting to be in a city vs. where we live....it's also good to come back home. When we returned, we were greeted with very long grass and a plethora of weeds in the garden, but also some new blooms on my day lilies.

I'll post more about our getaway later...but I want to show you another quick project I have been cookin' up but haven't finished until today.

About a month ago, the kids and I came upon this at Target.

A pack of 6 retro bottles of 7-UP. They thought it was really cool, and wanted to get them. It reminded me of my childhood when we would drink Coke out of glass bottles, so I said sure...and home they came with us.

Once the bottles were all empty, I decided I wanted to do a little something with the box and bottles.

I've seen teacher gift ideas using a small cardboard drink carrier and empty bottles filled with jelly beans or something, but I wanted some unique flower vases for all the cutting flowers I have in my yard.

So...I started by using some duct tape to make the bottom of the box stronger.

Then I measured the sides and top, and found some scrapbook paper to use.
6 total pieces in all.

I just put adhesive on the back of my paper, and stuck it on. You probably could mod podge this all on too, but I wanted to be quick. I might mod podge the second box I have.

I also added some embellishments from my paper scraps. The buttons were just some from a huge jar I have.
Next, it was time to add the blooms.
It's currently residing in my kitchen window.

Another thing off the project to-do list. It feels good to be gettin' things done.
Linking up to Craftskeepmesane's Motivate me Monday party.

Also linking up to DittleDattle's Amaze me Monday party.