whatchu talkin bout willis?

Project Life: Week 1

2012-01-27T07:12:00.000-05:00

i, like a whole multitude of scrapbookers, have decided that this is the year i will tackle Project Life. not long ago, i made the decision to start out my project by purchasing a Core Kit---choosing the Cobalt design.

then, i was plum out of luck in finding any Design A pocket page protectors in stock. my sweet friend Sharyn Tormanen came to my rescue by sending me some of hers until they get restocked.

so, my kit arrived and then it sat and collected a little dust while i griped and whined to Sherry about how i felt paralyzed by perfection---afraid to start.

i just didn't have a good idea about how i was going to carry the project through from start to finish. i'm one of those people who likes to see a finished project in my head before i even start.

this isn't one of those projects.

while in this limbo of waiting to start i kept snapping pictures here and there. some with my canon dRebel XT and some with my crappy camera phone. i kept notes on my phone using the ColorNote app. i kept notes jotted on PostIt notes. i kept notes on my calendar. i kept notes in a Word document.

lots of places to keep notes, eh? well, yeah. i'm still figuring out which works best for me, but the truth is, i'm a busy girl on the go, so i don't always have my phone with me or Word at my fingertips.

so with notes and phone in hand and my Word document up on my screen i began to piece together the first three weeks of January by using this weekly tear-off calendar found in the $1 at Michael's about a year ago.

i printed photos, rounded the corners and stuck sticky notes on the page protectors and got busy!

when first starting to populate the divided page protectors with photos and journaling cards i was disappointed at how visually flat everything looked. it didn’t take long for me to realize i wasn’t going to be satisfied with just photos and words on lined journaling cards. i decided I still want all the layers and the look of dimension, just without all the bulk of my typical layouts.

for Week 1 in order to add layers and visual dimension without the bulk i decided to play with some new Little Yellow Bicycle product from the Saturdays collection.

i plan to combine my Cobalt Core Kit pieces with lots of other little supplies throughout the year. things like tear out ticket booklets, washi tape, clear shapes, stickers, and thinner chipboard pieces.

when i came to the placement of pictures i just simply tried to balance colors. my photos had lots of pops of red, blues and neutrals.

when reaching for products i grabbed some with color along with some neutrals. the neutral colors--beige, cream, white--help add visual interest, but not visual weight allowing the eyes to rest.

this closeup is a great example of what i mean by the neutrals. you can see how the neutral clear crown shape and the word sticker add interest to the photo without adding visual bulk.

i'll be using lots of tone-on-tone patterned papers throughout my album. finding lightweight papers will be the tricky part as the heavier weight/cardstock patterned papers will quickly add bulk.

bits and pieces from the sticker sheets, ticket books and clear cut shapes packs are the perfect products to pull from to spice up your lined journaling cards. You can see a little closer detail on how I’ve done that in this photo. at the top of the photo you see the “take it easy” chipboard piece.

TIP: for some of these thicker/bulkier pieces, insert the photo into the protector, and then attach your the chipboard on the outside of the protector. that way you are assured that the bulk isn’t going to cause a weak seam within that pocket.

okay, let’s move to the right side details. here’s a closer look at the right side all together.

just because an embellishment is layered and dimensional in the original packaging doesn’t mean you have to totally discount it for use in your Project Life album….or any other project you want to make less dimensional for that matter.

with just a few minor alterations, you can make a layered piece flat; such as i did with this “today” banner ribbon. it was originally sandwiched with two layers of foam, so i simply pulled apart the layers, removed the dimensional foam and reassembled it together with a thin glue dot. then, i even cut the banner short, removing the phrase as you see here. The phrase is still intact and ready to use on another project.

when deciding on how to layer products for this spread i made to sure look specifically for empty space within the photos. if you go back and scan through all the detail shots in this post you’ll see what I mean by that, but i think in the photo above it’s most obvious.

by embellishing the empty space you are simply covering space that has no meaning to the overall photo or memory you wish to retain.

and lastly, you might notice that i chose to type up my journaling cards. i'm just doing this using a hand-me-down typewriter. nothing fancy.

i haven't yet decided if i'll continue to type them week after week. most likely not because i love the character that hand-written journaling adds, but i had to do what my hands would allow. fine dexterity was causing a lot of pain the night i worked on it due to a rheumatoid arthritis flare and typing them was much easier for me.

and that's okay by me.

so whether you’re on the Project Life bandwagon or just doing your own thing, i hope you’ve found the details of my Project Life:Week 1 useful for how add a little ooomph to your Core Kit and how to stretch the use of your Little Yellow Bicycle products that might not otherwise seem suited for your taste!

Confused about Project Life? Start here.

DOUBLE digits!

2012-01-26T09:14:00.003-05:00

wanna help me with a little something?

we're celebrating a big milestone here at the Willis abode!

our oldest daughter, Ashlyn, has a birthday today and she's now in the world of DOUBLE digits----oh my word, please excuse me while i hyperventilate a bit.

anywho.
let's smother her with love for her TENTH birthday today! :)

Last Day: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-26T07:51:00.000-05:00

(photography of projects courtesy of: Shavaughn Elwell)

Click through to the other Karen Foster Designers' blogs and start commenting!
Sherry Cartwright
Maryfrances Fabbri
Alice Golden
Jolene Johnston
Carolyn Lontin

The prize details:
To enter your name in the drawings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post. You don't need to comment on every blog post to win, but you can increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on each of the Design Team member’s blogs every day during our sneak peek event. Enter up to once per day per blog! As always, Karen Foster Design welcomes international entries. Comments close at 12 Noon on Friday January 27th EST. Winners will be posted here on Monday, January 30, 2012.

The prizes will be hidden on the blog posts - not even the Design Team members know where they are! A winner will be selected at random from the comments on one post per day. So the more you comment, the better chance you have of winning, since you never know where those prize packages are hidden!

But wait, there’s more! To add to the excitement, there are more prizes! On Saturday four additional winners will be chosen at random to receive bonus prize packs of five stamp sets each. How awesome is that? Good luck!

Day 8: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-25T14:15:00.003-05:00

(all photography courtesy of Shavaughn Elwell)

and the projects using the Twins collection.

i'm completely smitten with that #2 within the circle. LOVE.

Click through to the other Karen Foster Designers' blogs and start commenting!
Sherry Cartwright
Maryfrances Fabbri
Alice Golden
Jolene Johnston
Carolyn Lontin

The prize details:
To enter your name in the drawings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post. You don't need to comment on every blog post to win, but you can increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on each of the Design Team member’s blogs every day during our sneak peek event. Enter up to once per day per blog! As always, Karen Foster Design welcomes international entries. Comments close at 12 Noon on Friday January 27th EST. Winners will be posted here on Monday, January 30, 2012.

The prizes will be hidden on the blog posts - not even the Design Team members know where they are! A winner will be selected at random from the comments on one post per day. So the more you comment, the better chance you have of winning, since you never know where those prize packages are hidden!

But wait, there’s more! To add to the excitement, there are more prizes! On Saturday four additional winners will be chosen at random to receive bonus prize packs of five stamp sets each. How awesome is that? Good luck!

Day 7: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our two-week sneak peek at products that Karen Foster Design will debut at the CHA 2012 Winter show. To celebrate this release the Design Team will be hosting a giveaway contest on our blogs where you can enter to win prize packs that match each day’s theme(s).

today the team is showing one theme: MILITARY

i created several projects with this theme. so let's start with the card. i started by cutting a 7x10 piece of dark khaki brown cardstock and folding it in half to create a 5x7 card base. on the top half of the card i used my favorite "fill a boring space" technique to make it look faux-embossed. it's a simple process. all you need is a circle punch, cardstock of the same color, and some adhesive. the circles are randomly placed---some hanging off the edge and trimmed---until the entire space is filled. it adds quite a bit of texture and dimension so the card doesn't look so flat. the middle band of patterned paper is flanked at the top and bottom with a border strip punched from my Fiskars Upper Crest punch. and the rest of the card is layered with stickers and finished off with a few coil brads.

for this next project, I used one of the 6-pack favor box sets from Karen Foster Design. these boxes come out of the package in a high-gloss white color ready for you to decorate. so, i first decorated 5 of the 6 boxes in an assembly line style cutting all the top covers from the same patterned paper, then covered the three sides of each box using a dark green cardstock. from there, i gathered 3 sticker sheets and went to town decorating all three sides.
once that was done, i arranged the boxes on my table so they formed a star and used my hot-glue gun to glue the side seams that touched in place. i backed the opening in the center of the star with black cardstock giving it a shadow-box effect.
once that was done, i finished it off by decorating the top of each box with layers of punched pieces (all Fiskars punches), some scrappers floss, and some starburst brads. as the final step, i coated the entire thing, including the black background cardstock, with a few layers of modpodge glossy medium to make sure nothing would come undone. i can't wait until this comes back to me and i can fill it with gift cards and notes of encouragement to send off to a military wife.

and lastly i used the product to create this layout. the layout is pretty straight-forward and simple. just some of the patterned paper and stickers with an oversized photo. but what really pulls it together is another one of the stacked sentiments that says "Proud to Serve." a whole lot of layered, dimensional, textured goodness already done for you! looooooove that.

**********
Click through to the other Karen Foster Designers' blogs and start commenting!
Sherry Cartwright
Maryfrances Fabbri
Alice Golden
Jolene Johnston
Carolyn Lontin

The prize details:
To enter your name in the drawings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post. You don't need to comment on every blog post to win, but you can increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on each of the Design Team member’s blogs every day during our sneak peek event. Enter up to once per day per blog! As always, Karen Foster Design welcomes international entries. Comments close at 12 Noon on Friday January 27th EST. Winners will be posted here on Monday, January 30, 2012.

The prizes will be hidden on the blog posts - not even the Design Team members know where they are! A winner will be selected at random from the comments on one post per day. So the more you comment, the better chance you have of winning, since you never know where those prize packages are hidden!

But wait, there’s more! To add to the excitement, there are more prizes! On Saturday four additional winners will be chosen at random to receive bonus prize packs of five stamp sets each. How awesome is that? Good luck!

Day 6: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-23T22:50:00.000-05:00

photo share: spidergirl's 7th birthday

2012-01-22T10:27:00.000-05:00

it's been 49 days since spidergirl's party (47 since she turned SEVEN!!!) and i still can't believe it!

(my husband's people: from left to right: Andrea (cousin), Suzi (cousin), Cindy (sister), Johnny (uncle))

suzi ended up reserving a party room (free to residents in her town--awesomesauce!) because spidergirl invited so many friends and family and we're so glad she did because only one person (of the 35 invited) wasn't able to make it! that kind of turnout for a party is unheard of!

but once everyone arrived it was pretty obvious why. my girl can brighten a room with just one smile and interact with a whole group of friends--she's definitely the life of the party, just like her daddy. she's very sensitive to other people and their feelings and goes out of her way to make sure everyone is included.

there were only three things she insisted on for her party. 1. playing bingo and having prizes for the winners, 2. having a pinata, and.....3. wearing a princess crown. we were happy to oblige to all three requests. so after munching on pizza and sipping some soda, we set the kids up with bingo cards, bingo chips, and a healthy amount of change from the adults pockets to use as markers when we ran out of bingo chips (ooooopsies!). you'd never guess that playing bingo with 18 kids that each game would last 20 minutes. crazy, but fun.

she picked and wrapped the prizes her friends would win. among them were a yo-yo, a bag of marbles, a pez dispenser, and.....oh, i can't remember the last one. oh, yeah. Flarp.

we almost didn't have a pinata, because we reserved this party room sight unseen. so when we got there we didn't have a clue how we were going to hang a pinata from the 15 foot ceilings. but my dad pulled out his super awesome macguyver skills to rig up the rolling table storage cart and saved the day!

who ever knew that pinatas were so strong! 18 kids shuffled through the line twice beating that thing with all their might and it still didn't bust. so we resorted to each kid grabbing a string to pull hoping to open the hatch. no such luck. i think the mistake was having them all pull at once instead of one at a time. so back in line they went for another whack at it.

once everyone shuffled through the line one more time we let spidergirl have her way with it until the candy started flying. all 20 pounds of it! (so glad we weren't having a sleepover with all that sugar, LOL!)

then we sang and had cupcakes. she requested daddy's cupcakes. chocolate with chocolate, yellow with white, and marble with chocolate. she wanted chocolate with chocolate for herself decorated with butterfly toothpicks. easy peasy. for the toothpicks, i just raided my scrapbook supply and used a glue dot to attach the butterflies to the end of a toothpick. the back was covered with a punched circle. (butterflies from Pebbles, Inc. and Little Yellow Bicycle)

then it was time to open presents! and goodness gracious did she have a lot of them! family and friends spoiled her rotten with clothes, Littlest Pet Shops, games, movies, gift cards to Half Price Books and Chuck E Cheese, handmade art and the two most desired gifts......a tropical parrot mini pillow pet and Beyblades. spoiled.
her reactions were priceless. my camera skills in capturing them were not. ha.

one other thing she talked about more and more in the days leading up to her birthday was how much she hoped she was going to get a talking/singing birthday card. it's been a hope of hers since her sister got one a few birthdays ago. so, i grabbed her one that's absolutely awesome and she got a singing cupcake from grams & papa, too. i honestly think opening those was the highlight of her party for her. :) love how the little details delight her the most.

i also love how in every photo i have of her opening gifts (all 234 of them--photos, not gifts) she's surrounded by friends celebrating in her joy! i'm not gonna have to worry about this one making friends throughout the school years. she's got this one in the bag. my little social butterfly.

(two of spidergirl's cousins)

after presents it was time to get a little crazy in the photo booth! if you've been reading for a while you might remember when we did this with a different backdrop and super awesome mustache props for her 5th birthday too.

this time i just hung a full-size flat bed sheet and used clothespins to dangle 4 or 5 balloons on string and also to clip up a cupcake/doily liner garland. to make the garland, i just purchased a variety of colors/patterns/sizes of cupcake liner along with a pack of paper doilies. using a needle and embroidery floss, i strung them onto the thread alternating the direction in which they were going to make the garland appear fuller. an idea i saw on Pinterest.

the rest of the props were just from our dress-up/costume bin. green oversized glasses (Walmart), coke bottle glasses (Dollar Tree), clown nose (Ringling Bros. Circus), nerd glasses (leftover from 3-D movie, lenses popped out, medical tape on bridge), feather boa (Hobby Lobby).

100% awesomeness for next to nothing.

while most of us were cleaning up, daddy and papa had the honors of putting together Beyblades and entertaining the cousins. who knew a girl could love Beyblades so much!

(she said....."look mom, i'm a walrus.")

another birthday come and gone, way too quickly! happy birthday my little peanut! thank you for bringing so much laughter and joy to my life. :)

Day 5: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

for this first project, i used a 4 x 12 piece of cardstock and scored it at 4", 7" and 11" and folded the cardstock along the score lines. then, filled a cellophane bag with assorted candies and stapled it in between the cardstock so that the 1" flap was folded over the other end of the cardstock strip encapsulating it. from there, i built up the parts and pieces of the bunny by adding ears, hands and facial features along with a sticker from the theme. the eyes are made from coil brads and the whiskers are a long strand of white scrapper's floss folded in half several times over. really, such a quick and easy project that is sure to thrill any little one this Easter.
for this layout i took more of a color blocking approach. its such a simple way to make use of 4x6 photos. each block of patterned paper or cardstock is cut to 4x6, then adhered in opposite corners. you can draw focus to the individual photos by placing a bold strip horizontally across the middle of the page. to create the woven strip, i threaded brown cardstock through a purple strip of cardstock that i punched with my Fiskars Leave It To Weaver Border Punch. then kicked it up a notch by adding brown coil brads to the center of each section of brown cardstock showing.
and lastly, i created an Easter card by collaging a variety of the stickers from the sticker sheet. before adhering the basket, i looped several strands of green scrappers floss behind the sticker to add a pop of color and make it look like it had Easter grass inside. again, you're seeing another one of those THIN-ments (as seen on my Wedding layout) along with a few rhinestone brads. i finished it off with an oversized bow made from tulle. the tulle can easily be found on 6" wide rolls at your local Dollar Tree. it's the perfect amount to keep in your crafting area for small projects like these.

**********
Click through to the other Karen Foster Designers' blogs and start commenting!
Sherry Cartwright
Maryfrances Fabbri
Alice Golden
Jolene Johnston
Carolyn Lontin

The prize details:
To enter your name in the drawings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post. You don't need to comment on every blog post to win, but you can increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on each of the Design Team member’s blogs every day during our sneak peek event. Enter up to once per day per blog! As always, Karen Foster Design welcomes international entries. Comments close at 12 Noon on Friday January 27th EST. Winners will be posted here on Monday, January 30, 2012.

The prizes will be hidden on the blog posts - not even the Design Team members know where they are! A winner will be selected at random from the comments on one post per day. So the more you comment, the better chance you have of winning, since you never know where those prize packages are hidden!

But wait, there’s more! To add to the excitement, there are more prizes! On Saturday four additional winners will be chosen at random to receive bonus prize packs of five stamp sets each. How awesome is that? Good luck!

Day 4: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-19T07:49:00.000-05:00

Day 3: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-18T07:01:00.001-05:00

Day 2: Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-17T07:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our two-week sneak peek at products that Karen Foster Design will debut at the CHA 2012 Winter show. To celebrate this release the Design Team will be hosting a giveaway contest on our blogs where you can enter to win prize packs that match each day’s theme(s).

The details:
To enter your name in the drawings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post. You don't need to comment on every blog post to win, but you can increase your chances of winning by leaving comments on each of the Design Team member’s blogs every day during our sneak peek event. Enter up to once per day per blog! As always, Karen Foster Design welcomes international entries. Comments close at 12 Noon on Friday January 27th EST. Winners will be posted here on Monday, January 30, 2012.

The prizes will be hidden on the blog posts - not even the Design Team members know where they are! A winner will be selected at random from the comments on one post per day. So the more you comment, the better chance you have of winning, since you never know where those prize packages are hidden!

But wait, there’s more! To add to the excitement, there are more prizes! On Saturday four additional winners will be chosen at random to receive bonus prize packs of five stamp sets each. How awesome is that? Good luck!

today the team is showing two themes: Wedding & Prom
i was assigned the Wedding theme, and have to admit, it was one of my favorites to work with. the projects came together so effortlessly, thanks to the variety of embellishments there were to coordinate with the papers. there is just the right amount of subtle color and sparkle in that oversized stacked sticker piece i used for the title to fancy the layout up a bit.

my new favorite embellishments are the intricate cut Wedding THIN-ments. it's that diamond ring embellishment you see on the lower left of the layout. they are brads made from a very thin metal. they are pliable if you want to make them more dimensional you can bend them. looooove them.

on this card you can see another one of the THIN-ment brads--the present. they add quite a bit of pizazz to a project with very little effort.

and lastly, i used the collection to print out the wedding vows i wrote and spoke to my husband 16 years ago. i opened my word processing program, inserted a text box, typed the vows within the text box, cut the wedding patterned paper down to 8 1/2 x 11 and ran it through my printer. then, i put it in the frame and added embellishments on top. if you want all the elements within the frame, you could do the same thing, but use a shadow box instead.
**********
Click through to the other Karen Foster Designers' blogs and start commenting!
Sherry Cartwright
Maryfrances Fabbri
Alice Golden
Jolene Johnston
Carolyn Lontin

Karen Foster Design: CHA Product Reveal

2012-01-16T13:53:00.006-05:00

chin up, beautiful.

2012-01-12T11:15:00.004-05:00

those are the words on repeat to me from my sweet friend lately. i'm sure she sounds like a broken record. i am SO thankful to have her around to encouragement when things are rough.

and things have been rough lately. lack of blogging = tania's in lots of pain.

when i'm in pain, i shut down. i get angry because i can't keep up with my level of motivation. i introvert. i have trouble finding the silver lining. i get depressed.

and worst of all........i'm no fun to be around. just ask the people that live with me.

i have a hard time slipping into recovery mode. trouble extroverting back to the real me.

today, it's all hitting me hard. i'm on day 6 in a row of having pain so intense i feel like i could vomit. 6 days of taking handfuls of medications and wearing pain patches, with barely any relief.

it's a vicious cycle of resting to feel better and the resting making my pain level worse.

i'm feeling really discouraged today because so much of my life in the last 7 years has been wasted while i'm unable to function, crippled by the chronic pain. i've lost a lot of friends. i've seen my kids become numb to it. my husband despise it. other's not believe it.

i ask myself what's the lesson in all this? i normally can find the happy in the sad, the comedic relief in the pain, God's purpose.

but today, i can't. i actually said to my husband this morning via text, with tears streaming down my face....."sometimes i'd rather not live than live in chronic pain."

that realization scares the crap out of me. admitting it here makes me feel even more vulnerable.

it's really hard for a type-A, highly motivated, over-acheiver like myself to feel useless. :(

and today, that's just how i feel. like a big old pile of dead weight.

this isn't a "i'm going to kill myself" cry for help. it's just.....truth. it's just real life. it's just a little insight into why this blog has been silent.

my chin is up. i'm just trying to find a smile above it without tears dripping off the end of it.

thank you...

2012-01-10T12:24:00.003-05:00

to all of you who keep checking in on me each day.

i'm sorry this space has been less than inspiring in both words and pictures latley.

the blogging break has been good for my soul, but i'll be back in action soon---hopefully as soon as tomorrow.

in the meantime.....do you mind taking a moment to tell me what sorts of creative things you'd like to see from me this coming year?

i think you, kindly, and i appreciate it greatly.

xoxo,
tania

how are you celebrating the new year?

2011-12-26T19:35:00.005-05:00

did everyone have a fabulous holiday? we did, for certain! we enjoyed time with family, exchanging gifts, playing games, lounging around and then cleaning up the aftermath. i have lots of photos to share soon, but for now, i wanted to share one last project i created for Fiskars for 2011.

the project instructions includes several quick & easy ideas for adding just a little extra punch to your new year's decor.

we always stay in for the holiday with our favorite snacks, a movie or games, and some pot/pan banging for the kiddos. but, this year, i wanted to add in a new little tradition of a sparkling grape juice toast and some hand-made (calorie-free) fortune cookies! you can read much more about our plans over at the Fiskars site: Paper Fortune Cookies/Ringing in the New Year by Tania Willis.

also, i wanted to remind you.........YOU HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT......to catch a great deal on an e-bundle of 11-books--in which three of my online classes are included.

UNTIL DECEMBER 31ST you can get the bundle for 55% off individual retail.

the bundle includes books authored by top-notch designer/teachers including: Debbie Hodge, Sharyn Tormanen, Doris Sander and myself!

there are 11 books in total in this Crafty Scrapbooker e-Book Bundle. :)

if you've ever been on the fence about purchasing an online class through Get it Scrapped! this is the offer for you! debbie has a great short video to watch explaining how you can use these bundles with your e-readers and even sync your library with any mobile device using a free program.

so don't delay because the offer expires December 31st.

read all about each individual course offered in the bundle by clicking: Crafty Scrapbooker e-Book Bundle.

just a note: none of these classes will be available after December 31st. stay tuned to find out how you can purchase my e-book courses individually after January 1st--including a new e-book offering...In Loving Memory.

disclosure: i am an affiliate for Get It Scrapped!. i assure you i have not been paid to post this information and all opinions expressed herein are my own. as an affiliate, any sale made through the links provided in this blog entry will earn me a small commission. please know that i only recommend those things in which i would be willing to put my own money behind. thank you for supporting my family in a small way through your purchase.

a scrappy share....Pebbles Inc. - Fresh Goods

2011-12-21T07:01:00.001-05:00

it feels like it's been a while since i've been able to share any kind of crafting i've been doing. it's that time of year when all my energy is going into working on projects for the upcoming Craft & Hobby Association trade show.

and as usual, the big reveal is hush, hush until then, so i can't share anything i've done for the show.

buuuuut......i can share several projects i worked on for a little feature over at SRM Stickers they've been doing throughout the year called 'Paper of the Week' (clicking will take you to the complete viewing of the past Paper of the Week features).

basically, each SRM designer received a collection of goodies from a manufacturer--in my case, Pebbles, Inc--and they just matched up the product with their favorite SRM stickers to create whatever they were inspired to create.

so, here's what i came up with using the Fresh Goods collection from Pebbles and some SRM Stickers.

i don't have a whole lot of time to add commentary for each layout today as we're rushing out the door to get spidergirl her allergy shot, but if you have questions about how i did something, either leave them in the comments or email me and i'll be sure to answer later today.

what's that mischievious little elf been up to?

2011-12-14T14:56:00.008-05:00

for the love of pete! this dude is ORNERY as all get out---he fits right in around here.

he does bring out his sensitive side every now and again. like when he decided to leave spidergirl a handmade "happy birthday" greeting.
but the next day he was back to his antics again--this time making snow angels in a pile of sugar on the countertop! CHARLIE! don't you know that sugar doesn't grow on trees!?! that stuff's expensive.

not only is he ornery, he's also quite the little comedian. he managed to gather all the 'animal' stuffies around in a circle on ashlyn's bed for some story time. he had the penquin, the kitty, the bear, the lion, the raccoon, the bunny, and the puppy.

and he had the nerve to read to them........"would you rather be a bullfrog?"
but i suppose we'll keep him around because he playfully reminded spidergirl that brushing teeth can be quite silly if you keep the right attitude about it. so glad not to fight that battle--for a day, anyway.

the next morning we woke up to find him hanging upside down....

we can only assume he was practicing some acrobatics from the the ceiling fan. Santa must have told him there's a little girl in this house hoping for gymnastics lessons for Christmas.
then he really did it....

if we can't get the weather to cooperate and give us a white Christmas, Charlie sure does know a way to solve that! it's called.....make your own white Christmas. LOL.
he'll throw a flour party instead! works just as well as snow. and BONUS----no freezing little fingers when you want to write a message in the white stuff. HA. and a very Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Charles S. Mistletoe.
he's been an observant little houseguest. he knows just how much the girls love to play with their Littlest Pet Shop toys, so he was quite thoughtful and set everything up for them to play one morning before school using their favoritest animals. *sigh*

Charlie, i love you. and i must say i can't imagine spending another Christmas without you.

with 11 more days until Christmas i'm wondering what kind of crazy will you come up with next?

okay, i'll own it....

2011-12-13T10:26:00.005-05:00

so i have to admit, that things are still a comedy of epic proportions around here. i wish you could be a fly on the wall, because there's no way i'd ever be able to paint a picture with words as comical as it feels to be living it day to day.

there are times in which i stop and scan my surroundings just to see if i can find the camera crew hiding out in the bushes waiting to ambush me with a chorus of voices saying..."Look right into that hidden camera because you're on Candid Camera."

wouldn't that just be peachy? it sure would explain a lot, that's for sure.

so, i have a little question for you?

what happens when you have to juggle income for another $1000 in car repairs, then add in at least one doctor appointment every week for myself and/or the girls, oh, and a husband who gets hit hard with strep throat...then, just as you catch your breath you realize it's time to dive head first into a major deadline that includes nearly 30 projects along with a finicky video project and you have to toss Christmas shopping into the mix....and we can't forget the feeling you feel when you've lost something irreplaceable?

and what happens when you come out to your car after a 15 minute trip to the pharmacy to find a ticket on your windshield because you've parked in a handicap space but your placard fell to the floorboard when you shut the car door, so now you have to make a case to the prosecutor and ask for charges to be dismissed. and the hard-to-find book you ordered from Amazon for a Christmas gift that came looking like someone had a hayday stomping all over it---and a lightbulb goes off and you realize that every.single.thing. you order from them in the last year has arrived damaged. *sigh*

and what happens when your phone rings off the hook because someone at Children's Hospital forgot to mark one little box in their billing system which then takes a completely covered procedure and turns it into an outstanding balance of $157.15 that sends you to straight into collections?

well, let me tell you. are you ready? i'm sure you're gripping the edge of your seat.....

you end up with a mama who's intensely overextended with anxiety bubbling up inside her like the carbination on a freshly shaken can of soda just waiting to explode. (nooooooooo? not me.)

and then what happens? she gets another surge of adrenaline and wigs out. (nooooooooo? not me.)
and the thought occurs to her.......maybe you're the one who needs the valium and not the kid. (tempting)

i'm not the only one having a rough time. last week ashlyn had a breakdown because her daddy was sick and she didn't want him to die like Big Grammy did. then between sobs and catching her breath, she said "mommy, i really, really miss Big Grammy." such a hard thing for a little girl her age to deal with and a hard thing for a mama to hear.

hard because i know how private she is with her feelings. but, not so hard, because i know how safe she felt knowing that she could share it with me. :) and i know now that her difficult days might be more than just what i see on the surface--more than just her typical anxiety and sensory issues.

but, yeah. it's still hard knowing that your child is still dealing with the grief of it 4 1/2 years later.

holidays are hard.
true story.

thankfully this mama has a husband who endlessly reminds her not to introvert and to breathe and stay calm. and a husband who holds me to my word when i promise to make this holiday the one where there's more laughter than sadness.

so very thankful for that.

Video Tutorial: Wonder & Wishes by Little Yellow Bicycle

2011-12-09T13:25:00.005-05:00

hello friends!

i have another little video showing you some tips/techniques used to complete this Christmas wall art piece that i have framed in an 8x10 frame with the glass removed. this is the perfect size to sit on a shelve or ledge to change up the look of your home decor for the holiday.

please excuse the horrible coloring on this photo. it's been rainy and overcast for days on end here and i got tired of fussing with it.

anywho.
this was made using the Wonder & Wishes collection by Little Yellow Bicycle. i am SO in love with this collection---it's what i'm using to put together my December Daily album this year. i'll be sharing progress on that soon. :)

in the meantime, here's some more detail pictures of the project.
this is definitely a project that can be finished in under 30 minutes, regardless of skill level. at the end of this post you'll find a download-able instruction sheet that has the complete supply list included.

in the video i share an easy way to create snow without getting messy with splattering paint or misting. :)
it's filled with tips this time, so take a little peek when you have a moment! you can download the instructions here: Very Merry Framed Art by Tania Willis

charlie has been an ornery little stinker.

2011-12-06T07:02:00.002-05:00

so far, our elf on the shelf has been quite a delight to our mornings. mornings are actually pleasant around here these days....because charlie is watching, ya know.

so the morning after ashlyn left charlie a note, we woke up to find this in the livingroom........

that's charlie hanging from the candle holder on the wall with a black dry erase marker he must have snatched from ashlyn's room. and loooooooook what he did! charlie drew mustaches, beards, glasses, freckles and black teeth all over our pictures! CHARLIE!!!!!

look a little closer. heeee. that pesky elf!

oh gosh, i wish i could have bottled up the giggles coming from the depths of spidergirl's belly. that kid has a contagious joy and having charlie around has multiplied it by 10!

she decided that she needed to leave charlie a picture too! so, she grabbed a red marker and doodled a puppy, of course.

ashlyn decided after one day that charlie needed to be an official member of the family, she she did the honors of letting him know he was welcome to stay around.

and before day two rolled around, spidergirl decided she needed to leave him a note too.

it reads: "I love you Christmas elf all day long. from Emma to Christmas elf my dad calls you stupid."

doug has been telling them there is no way Charlie is 'real'. he likes to get them all fired up and build their excitement. every day their conversations revolve around Charlie and what they think Charlie is going to do next and if they think Charlie has a girlfriend, and.....and.....and........just, Charlie.

so, anywho. spidergirl left her note and off to bed she went, only to wake up the next morning and find Charlie made quite the mess on the kitchen floor---it was a much larger mess than this photo shows. good thing that cereal was outdated. she came to the conclusion that he was hungry and in the middle of getting his breakfast ready when she woke so he had to make himself a statue again. :)

without touching him, she voluntarily swept up his mess in a careful and methodical manor and headed off to school. she was relieved to find him sitting on the table with his cereal in a bowl ready to eat--without more messes.

that evening we decided to pull out the Christmas decorations and start trimming our tree. halfway through, we discovered that we could only hang the ornaments with ribbons already on them because our hooks were missing. so we called it a night without putting the angel on top or the ribbon streamers on (instead of garland).

well, we woke up the next morning to find Charlie helped us out a bit by scaling the tree to put the angel on top.

he's a sneaky little thing, that Charlie.

he's been up to quite a few other things around here.

like Friday morning, we woke up to find Charlie on the couch like this....
you know what that is in his hands don't you? yep.....you guessed it. TOILET PAPER.

the shortcake toilet papered our livingroom by draping it from the ceiling fan, around the Christmas tree, across the couches.....it was a mess!

hahaha. it was awesome! she came down the steps with her jaw to the floor and couldn't believe what she was seeing. :)

if only i had time to record all the little conversations we've had about this little elf while driving last week. especially the elf named Billy that my husband had as a kid. he might just have to make a guest appearance to tell it again. definitely. then the next elf mischief will make much more sense. :)

stay tuned....

happy 7th birthday spidergirl!

2011-12-05T07:01:00.000-05:00

hip hip hooray, spidergirl is 7 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Emma boo. i love you sweet girl!

(i really need new nickname for this kid. spidergirl just doesn't seem to fit the bill since she's ousted him from her life!)

my sweet Emma Grace, at age seven:

she's in the first grade.
she's a little social butterfly and has a 'life of the party' personality.
definitely not a shy bone in her body.
her bestest friends at school are: Makyi, Geneva, Katelyn, and Alyssa.
she's still in love with popcicles and will eat them like they are going out of style.
she'd rather buy school lunch than have me pack something.
she completely adores all things animal related and begs for a puppy or kitty daily.
she tells me that spiderman stuff is stupid and for boys, but she's recently taken up an obsession with beyblades.
her favorite thing to eat is stuffed crust cheese pizza from Pizza Hut....or anything you can get through a drive-thru.
she has lost only one tooth on the bottom but has 3 others that are loose.
her favorite thing to do is push her straw through the space where her tooth is missing.
she's still an early riser and heads to bed early.
her biggest 'wants' right now are: Rainbow Unicorn Pillow Pet, a new bike (because Spiderman just won't do anymore), and unlimited Chuck E Cheese tokens.
for her birthday dinner she wants to go to Chuck E Cheese.
her favorite color is pink...or blue...depending on which day you ask her.

i can tell you one thing........throwing a party with a gaggle of kids is exhausting! we had 31 people, half of them kids, in a party room for 2 hours with non-stop excitement.

we're still recovering, but i can say that it was a smashing success! and totally worth every penny and every minute of preparation that went into it to see how happy she was to be surrounded by family and friends that adore her.

everyone had fun and i have lots of pictures to prove it. i promise to share them soon.

Elf on the Shelf: we're now a family of 5...

2011-12-02T07:08:00.007-05:00

...temporarily of course.

a little short fry has come to stay for the month of December. friends....meet Mr. Charles S. Mistletoe. the girls call him Charlie.

(ETA - my tutorial for the pillow is here: Yo-Yo Pillow Tutorial)

Charlie came to us with a letter that reads:

Dear Ashlyn & Emma,

I’m excited to give you this magical Christmas Elf. All through December he will bring Christmas magic and fun and laughter to your home.

You may hug this elf once you first see him, but after that you may not touch him or his Christmas magic will disappear.

He is here to stay for the season and will be an extra set of eyes and ears for the big man at the North Pole! You know who that is don’t you? Why, it’s Santa, of course!

Every night while you’re sleeping he will be busy preparing for the holiday season and he’ll give a report to Santa as to whether you’ve been naughty or nice. So be nice to your sister, and be sure to obey mommy and daddy, okay? Be warned….your elf might have a little too much fun while you’re sleeping.

Remember: There is one very important rule…You MUST NOT touch him so you can keep his magic alive.

Now…repeat these words and get ready for a season full of fun memories!

Christmas Elf, Christmas Elf, Christmas Elf.
Please bring some Christmas Magic to our house.
Christmas Elf, Christmas Elf, Christmas Elf.

Be sure to tell mommy to write notes on her blog about the Christmas magic he brings to your home.

Oh, one more thing. You need to name him. May I suggest Peppermint Sticks, or Jingles, maybe Skittles. No, I think Bernard sounds good. Wait. Not Bernard. Lucky Sugar Socks! That’s it. Nah. Chipper Mistletoe? Ohhhh, I know, how about Tinker Spirit Fingers? Merry Floppyfeet?

I don’t know, you decide his name.
Love,
Mommy’s Friend

i'm pleasantly surprised at how much joy Charlie brings to our mornings. the best thing in the world is seeing spidergirl come down the steps with bed head and swollen sleepy eyes searching the livingroom &/or kitchen to see what he's been up to while she's sleeping. then hearing her giggle for the next 5 minutes after she finds him.

well....maybe not the best thing. because having ashlyn wake up in the mornings with a bit of anticipation instead of acting like a spawn of Oscar the Grouch has been pretty darn AWESOME. who knew that all it would take is a visit from this little dude.

i'm excited to do some regular blogging about his silly antics this month. stay tuned...

(ps...in case you were wondering, the "chin up" frame was a handmade gift from my super sweet friend Sherry.)

Crafty Scrapbooker e-book Bundle

2011-11-29T18:32:00.005-05:00

if you've been around for a while you probably remember all the online classes--the Beautifully Handmade series--i taught over the last two years at Get It Scrapped!

these courses were comprised of individual lessons taught a few times a week over the course of 3-5 weeks with online support. they were also converted to self-paced lessons into a single downloadable PDF. if you haven't heard, there are lots of changes happening at Get It Scrapped!, but through the end of the year my self-paced classes are currently still available individually at a slightly discounted rate. i haven't yet decided how i will be offering these course after that.

but.......i'm more than thrilled to announce that these same classes have been combined into e-books and bundled along with some other courses taught by some top-notch designer/teachers including: Debbie Hodge, Sharyn Tormanen, Doris Sander and myself!

there are 11 books in total in this Crafty Scrapbooker e-Book Bundle. :)

if you were to buy each course individually, you'd be spending $264! but now through December 31 ONLY, you're able to get the bundle of 11 for $118! WOWZA!

if you've ever been on the fence about purchasing an online class through Get it Scrapped! this is the offer for you! debbie has a great short video to watch explaining how you can use these bundles with your e-readers and even sync your library with any mobile device using a free program.

so don't delay because the offer expires December 31st.

for those of you anxious to get your hands on this Crafty Scrapbooker e-Book Bundle... you should know if you purchase by December 5th, you'll get a BONUS valued at $60!!!

the bonus includes a 118 page, never-before-seen course by Debbie Hodge called "Scrapbooking Events" along with 8 hours of Masterful Scrapbook Design content, including designer interviews with 24 of the industry's most respected designers.

read all about each individual course offered in the bundle by clicking: Crafty Scrapbooker e-Book Bundle.

disclosure: i am an affiliate for Get It Scrapped!. i assure you i have not been paid to post this information and all opinions expressed herein are my own. as an affiliate, any sale made through the links provided in this blog entry will earn me a small commission. please know that i only recommend those things in which i would be willing to put my own money behind. thank you for supporting my family in a small way through your purchase.

TUTORIAL: Make Your Own Monogram Pillows

2011-11-29T11:11:00.003-05:00

as you've noticed by my lack of posting, i've been a bit busy! part of that busy always involves time in the studio, of course. :)

i'm excited to share a tutorial, along with a few variations, for making your own monogram pillows. i've been crushing on the popular number and ampersand pillows for at least a year now but dang are those things expensive.

so instead, i decided to make my own and show you how in the process!

you can find the instructions over on the Fiskars site by clicking: Monogram Pillows by Tania Willis

and in case you missed it, the instructions for the Yo-Yo pillow (shown in the photos above) can be found there too: Yo-Yo Pillow by Tania Willis

both would make excellent Christmas gifts!

speaking of Christmas gifts.....you don't want to miss these other projects by some of my favorite designers:
Miniature Embroidery Hoops by Emma Jeffrey
Four Scarves by Emma Jeffrey
Holiday Gifts for Teachers by Lisa Storms
Creative Gift Wrap by Lisa Storms
Handmade Christmas Gifts by Emma Jeffrey
DIY Gift Spa by Katrina Simeck
Holiday Gift Toppers by Laurie Cinotto

ENJOY!

you know what the problem is with having 15 year old cars?

2011-11-17T11:32:00.003-05:00

well, duh. they are 15 years old! *sigh*

just thought i'd see if you were on your toes today. ha.

you've probably noticed my blog has been hijacked by all the crafting that's been going on around here and i haven't shared a whole lot about my personal life lately. but you should know, life has been CRAAAAAZY! (why do i have britney spears playing in my head now?)

but we're all still alive, so we've got that going for us. :)

october swept me off my feet, twirled me around blind-folded, and abruptly dropped me back down to reality and i'm just now getting my bearing straight again. twirling can make a girl dizzy, ya know. seriously, things around here were on autopilot or survival mode--whatever you prefer to call it. i'm so thankful for a husband who meets me halfway.

between car repairs, freelance deadlines, working a part-time job, and health issues i don't remember much of the last six weeks other than how delicious the oatmeal raisin cookies are in the lobby of the Hyundai service center. NO, i'm not making up these car problems just to eat more cookies......no, i'm not. those there would be some very expensive cookies. ha ha.

to put it bluntly, 15 year old vehicles kinda suck. but for us, they are a necessary evil right now.

in the past 6 weeks we've spent more time and money repairing vehicles than i ever want to spend again. every time i get in the vehicle to drive i hear...cha-ching! i feel like Ralph, the service specialist, should be part of the family as much as i see him these days. i've surely paid for his entire Christmas and funded his family's summer vacation at this point. we're on a first name basis, ya know.

one week it was the sensor, the next it's a resistor switch for the air/heat blower, 2 days later it's the blower motor, then the right front ball joint, and NOW it's the plug wires and spark plugs. and that's just *MY* car. *sigh* the other car has been the alternator, the plugs & wires, brakes and the exhaust. oh, and i can't forget the timing belt and a coil we just forked over $700+ for yesterday. OY!

my poor dad. when my name comes up on caller ID i wonder if he hesitates before answering thinking "oh no, now what?" he's amazing, that dad of mine. if he can fix it for us, he will. always offering his spare time, without complaining. if he can't he'll offer his advice on where to go or if it's worth it to put more money into it. (hi dad! i love you and all you do for me!)

we've played musical vehicles lately too, with family members.

all of this just reminds me that every single big or little thing....everything....that happens in my life is perfectly orchestrated by the One who loves me more than anyone else. everything. i just have way too much proof. mind boggling proof.

do you ever evaluate the things you've been through and the changes that have come to be in your life and wonder how things could have been different if things in the past never came to be? if not, i challenge you to think about it sometime.

i know i haven't told this story yet: so, last week, doug's timing belt broke while driving on his lunch-hour on wednesday. so he had it towed to the repair shop and a friend was passing through and able to bring him home. coincidence? perfect timing? it's all in the perspective. anywho, his cousin loaned him her SUV for the next two days. so friday, doug went from work to get the girls, then picked his cousin up to bring her over to our place for dinner and a movie, and the plan was for her to take her vehicle back home afterward.

after getting the girls from school, and picking her up, the vehicle in front of them slammed into a deer. the deer stumbled, got back up and trying to escape slammed right into the passenger's side of her vehicle leaving a huge dent while the antlers left deep scratches from the front all the way to the back of her vehicle.

so yeah, hitting a deer sucks too. but hitting a deer in an SUV, compared to a little Ford escort meant the difference in a dent and scratches versus an outcome that could have been SO much worse. God is good. even in the difficult times.

thank you God for perfectly orchestrating every detail of my life....even the inconvenient ones. thank you for disabling our 15 year old car for a week and keeping our family safe. thank you for spurring me on to contact a member of the Little Yellow Bicycle team to express interest in doing work for them years ago. thank you for allowing them to see talent in my work. thank you for giving me calm nerves on camera so i can provide income to my family. thank you for that one person from Michael's seeing a training reel during a sales pitch at a trade show. and thank you for the income you provided when they loved the video and placed orders for additional kits meaning they needed videos for every kit. thank you for allowing me to have the time that one evening to apply to Fiskars. and thank you for providing me with the ability to make decisions on how to best present my work to them for that application. thank you for all the extra income you provided in the month of October so we could pay for all those car repairs without incurring any debt whatsoever. thank you for a dad is able and willing to help us do DIY repairs to save money. i'm so lucky you use him to help me keep everything in perspective and to gently remind me....things could be so much worse. thank you for the cascade of events that make up my life. for every little seemingly mundane little thing has a purpose that in retrospect becomes crystal clear. so, just....thank you.

what's even more amazing? we were seriously waiting on pins and needles trying to see how God was going to redeem this situation and show us He's the one in control and continues to provide for us. if you've been reading for a while you might remember the timing belt on doug's truck breaking months back. and as it broke it bent rods and such. the estimate for repair was $1,800. it was a no brainer for us to sell it to the junkyard. so when his vehicle broke down, days and days went by with them saying it was the timing belt but let us take it apart to be sure. we waited, expecting to hear the same high estimate for repair. we made plans to sell it to pick and pull and stressed over what to do next: finance a brand new vehicle or spend a couple thousand on a used one---a couple thousand that we didn't have at all. then, we got a call two days ago saying it could be fixed for less than $600. in the meantime, we were driving my dad's vehicle which he needed back yesterday. guess what. our vehicle was ready yesterday.

and once again, i knew every little thing was gonna be alright. God is good. proof once again that He is faithful to provide for my every need.

bring fall indoors with a thankful tree...

2011-11-15T09:42:00.004-05:00

if you've been poking around online at all these days, you've surely seen many participating in a 30 days of gratitude project, yes? and surely you're familiar with a thankful tree?

a thankful tree used as home decor in the fall isn't a new earth-shattering idea in the crafting world, but i've put my own colorful spin on the idea using bits and pieces of my scrapbook supplies along with my Fiskars tools and a thing or two from my local Dollar Tree.

my husband and i used to keep a gratitude journal so we could look back over the years and see how we've been provided for time and time again during difficult times. since having children though, we've always just talked as a family about thankfulness and never really documented. so, now with this tree, my family has a place to display all those thoughts of gratitude as we celebrate Thanksgiving. my plan after the holiday is to remove the tags and use them along with holiday photos on a scrapbook layout.

i've started the tree off with a few tags for the broad spectrum of things we're all thankful for: family, love, friends, health, home, etc. then created blank embellished tags for us to add more personalized thoughts of thankfulness which you can see in my article on the Fiskars website.

now that both girls can read and write, i'm excited to start doing gratitude projects in a more tangible way. i'm can wait to watch it unfold as we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving.

click on over to Fiskars to read more about putting together the project and the tools i used to create it: Thankful Tree by Tania Willis

i hope i've inspired you to get outdoors to gather some branches to create your own thankful tree this year! it's such a simple project that will take only an hour of your time to put together! let me know if you give it a go. i'd love to see your version. :)

video tutorial: happy fall framed art

2011-11-11T16:24:00.005-05:00

you asked for more videos......you got it!
i recently put together this framed fall home decor piece for the Big Picture Scrapbooking blog, along with a video tutorial showing how to create the piece from start to finish. the collection featured is called Hello, Fall by Little Yellow Bicycle.

remaining true to my style, the video shares a few fun ways to use the paper lace stickers that Little Yellow Bicycle puts out with almost every new collection, but at the end of the video i also show how the technique can be adapted for use with washi tape or canvas tape!

as usual, i've created a downloadable PDF that comes with detailed instructions and a complete supply list. Click this link to download: Happy Fall Frame by Tania Willis.

you can shop for Hello, Fall products online here, and as always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to email me using the link under my photo in the right sidebar.

and here's the supporting video...

if you like this and are looking for more of my free tutorials, you can find the whole collection here: Free Tutorials by Tania Willis

happy weekending!

it's 11/11/11 & i have a little challenge.

2011-11-11T07:43:00.003-05:00

challenging you to take a picture of yourself at 11:11AM &/or 11:11PM, today 11/11/11.

dates like these only come around a dozen times in your lifetime---if you're lucky!

so why not take a picture or two and document it! :)

after you do, post it to your blog and link it up.

Fiskars: weekend sewing with kids

2011-11-10T10:02:00.001-05:00

are you looking for ideas on how to keep your kids occupied during their upcoming holiday break? if so, why not consider making a new tradition where you take on a sewing project that you work on together each and every 'holiday break'?

i've done exactly that with my children making dresses, and blankets, and pillows, and now........Christmas Stockings. :)

i've learned that kids love to help, they love to learn, and they love knowing they have a skill that isn't taught to most kids their age.

you can read about our latest sewing adventure together--making the stockings--in my latest Fiskars article by clicking over: Article on Christmas Stockings by Tania Willis

if i haven't convinced you after reading the article that there is a place for children to be involved with a sewing project, here's...

...4 simple reasons why i think it's important to involve children in your sewing & crafting projects:

1. To teach them a life-long skill.
Mending and hemming clothing can get quite expensive. Teaching children a skill to do these things on their own builds their confidence and self-esteem.

2. Teaching opportunities, beyond how to sew, abound.
Children are like little sponges, constantly soaking up every thing they see and hear. While teaching them to sew, not only do you have the chance to teach them a life-long skill, but the opportunity for reinforcing family values and educational lessons is also present. You can teach resourcefulness by using recycled materials, how to create your own pattern templates, & making do with what you have on hand. Younger children can test their AB or AABB pattern skills, while older children practice measurement & fraction skills.

3. Enhance their creative thinking and problem solving skills.
Sewing projects always come with a number of challenges, whether it be how to arrange the materials in a pleasing manner or fidgeting with a finicky bobbin in the sewing machine. Through these challenges children will learn patience and learn how best to put their creative thinking and problem solving skills to use as they work on solving the problem.

4. Instill a sense of accomplishment.
After finishing a project....which is more about the process for children than the end result---you'll notice they stand a little taller with their chest inflated just a little fuller as they happily proclaim..."I helped make this."

if you start a new 'holiday break' sewing tradition with your children, i'd love to hear about it and see your finished projects! you can email me or share a link here in the comments.

i know halloween was a week ago, but....

2011-11-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

i can't resist taking time to share pictures of the girls in their halloween costumes----for posterity, ya know.

some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around trick or treating! we'd trick or treat with cousins, trick or treat in our neighborhood, visit grandparents in our costumes, parade around the block at school in our costumes. sheesh. being a parent now, i'm not sure how our parents kept up with all that trick or treating.

this year, i got a pretty good idea though, because we ended up at quite a few festivities and the girls put their costume closet to good use!

the first event we went to was trunk or treat at their elementary school. well, the first one spidergirl went to---ashlyn didn't want to go to this one. so i loaded up spidergirl, invited the neighbor boy and tossed him a boy costume from our costume stash, then picked up a classmate from down the street and off we went.

we got out of the car just as they were starting their costume contest by grade level, so spidergirl quickly shuffled over to get in the lineup and before she knew what was even happening she was declared the winner of the girls from grades K-2. she was over the moon excited because she won a gumball machine and a whole bag of gumballs. she doesn't really like gum though, but she loves sharing with her sister who borders on being addicted to gum chewing.

it was so fun to see her interact with all her schoolmates and see how their faces lit up every time she talked to one of them. she definitely doesn't have a shy bone in her body and her smile is infectious.

after a quick round of trunk or treating and the costume contest, the parking lot was transformed into a carnival-like atmosphere where the kids could play games to win more candy, paint pumpkins, eat popcorn, and try to bite an apple or donut from a dangling stick without using their hands. absolutely hysterical! i wish i had a video of it.

ohhhhhh, i didn't mention....i dressed up too! yes, i regularly make a fool of myself for my kids. this is one of those "i'm too lazy to find a real costume" costumes. i just bought a strainer from the local discount store and hot-glued cornmeal colored yarn to the inside to wear as a hat. then safety-pinned 3" brown craft pom-poms to a red shirt. spaghetti & meatballs. easy peasy.

it's a costume idea that once won doug "best-costume" with the prize being a DVD player when he participated in a costume contest at work years ago.

our next adventure was trick or treating in town. we go to doug's cousin's house to trick or treat every year and enjoy the familiarity of the neighborhood and how the decor on the houses change each year. but this year........it was SO crowded. it was the only town that had trick or treat 4 days before the holiday. everyone from all directions came to this town that night. i've never seen so many kids in one place in my life.

but, the kids invited 2 friends along and we found a few streets that weren't crowded and had fun anyway!

then......a few days later we ended up at the church around the corner from us to trunk or treat some more. we hadn't planned on going, but the weather was amazing and we had nothing else on our schedule, so we went. it's one of those events the kids remembered going to in years past, and had been asking about again this year. i love seeing how traditions come to be during their childhood.

so, once again they raided their costume closet and found what they wanted to dress as. both required sparkle-hairspray to be sprayed in their hair and off we went!

spidergirl.....literally being a social butterfly.....found a school friend and they clung to each other flitting from car trunk to car trunk.

then......i couldn't resist grabbing a few photos! some of my favorite photos of my kids are the ones from trick or treating. i love costumes and i love that they love costumes, too.

the ones of ashlyn make my breath catch in my throat. when looking at just about every picture of her lately, i see time passing so quickly. she hardly looks 9 in these pictures and i won't lie, it scares me just a bit how quickly she's growing up.

*sigh* slow down, baby girl, slow down.

this little one, on the other hand, is full of life and full of energy, but still seems so very young.

and she's obsessed with stuffed animals of any sort. the church had a dum-dum sucker tree. you pull a sucker out and if there is a mark on the bottom of the stick you get to pick a stuffed animal.all i can think when looking at my girls is "gosh, how'd i get so lucky!?"

and lastly......
we made an impromptu trip trick or treating on actual trick or treat in the neighborhood where i work.
once again, the girls raided the costume closet and decided to go as Dorothy twins. and it was the most enjoyable trick or treating night ever.

the kids were tickled pink to get full-sized candy bars at a few houses, M&M minis, and giant 2ft long pixie stix. they also came home with 20 LBS. of candy just from 90 minutes of trick or treating that night.

we did find one really odd thing in their buckets this year...

an individual serving size of Fancy Coconut Jelly. what the what!? weird.

i'm so glad that all those bargain shopping trips i made for costumes last year (and years past) got put to good use! my favorite shopping trips of the year are the ones i make to Walmart, Target & KMart to purchase costumes at 90% off every November. i've done this every year for the last 5 years and it seriously makes me giddy!

every little girl needs a closet full of costumes, don'tcha think!?

every single one of the costumes they wore in these photos was purchased one after halloween for less than $2.00 each.

i can't wait for a few more days to pass and they drop to 90% off again this year because mama's going shoppin'!

help a girl out, would ya?

2011-11-07T14:29:00.005-05:00

so you remember that Silhouette Advent Calendar i shared the other day, yes?

looked a little something like this....

first, i want to remind all of you that you still have 5 days left to benefit from the promotion that Silhouette is allowing me to offer my readers! you can get your own calendar for $29.99 (that's $10 off!) until November 11th by using the Promo Code: SRM at checkout when you purchase through the Silhouette Online Store.

secondly, you can find tons of Advent Calendar inspiration by following this link: Pinterest. spread the love and inspiration and repin your favorite calendar!

lastly, comes the fun part! i need to pick your brain for a bit of help filling all those little drawers & compartments with goodies for the girls to open this holiday.

i've been wanting to do elf on the shelf for a few years now, and may still do so, but i want the ideas within these boxes to be a fun mix of treats and things to look forward to. i'd like them to be more 'experiences' than gifts/candy. of course, a few little trinkets will find their way in a few of those drawers.

so here's what i was thinking:
1. Chuck E Cheese tokens (for December 5, spidergirl's birthday)
2. Lipgloss or Lipsmackers
3. Pack of gum (for ashlyn), KitKat (for spidergirl)
4. Make gingerbread houses
5. Holiday Lights at the Zoo
6. Drive to look at lights in our pajamas
7. Watch Polar Express
8. Make cut-out cookies

clearly........i need help. there's 17 more boxes to fill! eeeks! can you help a girl out?

Tutorial: Organza Flower Hairclip

2011-11-02T10:39:00.005-04:00

every girl needs some fancy flowers for her hair, am i right?

while these flowers look elegant and sophisticated, i assure you the process to make them isn't difficult AT all! even my 6 and 9 year old daughters can make them start to finish by themselves. :)

aren't they pretty? i have my hair up in a messy bun today with that little pink clip tucked in the side and i'm loving it! you can find the full tutorial over on the Fiskars site by clicking: Organza Flower Hairclips.

special thanks to my daughter Ashlyn for modeling these beauties!

i hope you get a chance to make some of your own soon! be sure to share your finished flowers with me when you do. you can use the link under my photo over there to the right to email me.

enjoy!

Silhouette Advent Calendar + SRM Stickers

2011-11-01T07:50:00.006-04:00

hello friends! prepare yourself for some delicious eye candy today as i share with you my most recent project......the Silhouette Advent Calendar!

(psssssst....stick with me all the way through the end of the post and you'll find out how to get your very own calendar at a GREAT discount using a promo code Silhouette gave me, just for YOU! :)

not long ago, SRM Stickers asked if i would be interested in helping them with a promotion through Silhouette. it didn't take me long to make my decision! so Silhouette sent me their Advent Calendar that comes along with a card to download 48 different shapes (some compartments use the same drawer shape).

i had full creative freedom to display the calendar however i wished, focusing on the beauty and versatility of SRM Stickers of course!

being the indecisive person that i am, i couldn't decide between whether i wanted to use only drawers or only uniquely shaped boxes, sooooooo......i used a mix of BOTH! and i have to say, i LOVE it even more that way.

my favorite being this star shaped box, right in the middle! so, as you look at the detail images, let me tell you a bit about my experience making this calendar.

the first thing i did was download all the boxes to my Silhouette software. the Advent Calendar comes with a download card (think: credit card). you just open your Silhouette software, go to My Account and Redeem Giftcard. you then scratch off the back of the download card and enter the card number and the shapes will start downloading into your library. SO easy.

not only do you get the shapes, but you can also cut the shapes for the backdrop of each compartment so there isn't any awkward measuring and trimming with the paper trimmer. it seriously couldn't be any easier.

next, i decided upon my color scheme and started picking and choosing cardstock to fit that theme. i prefer mix of traditional and non-traditional colors for Christmas, so i started with several sheets of red (none of them really the same exact color) and mixed in some lime, butter yellow, turquoise and bubblegum. the packaging on this calendar says it takes 25 to 50 sheets of paper and i thought to myself, no way!

no joke, it really does! but, for what you see here, it took about 30 sheets of cardstock to cut the boxes and drawers-----but they can be 8 1/2 x 11 sheets to save you a bit of money.

to cut all the boxes, i didn't start at number 1 and cut in numerical order. instead, i cut one color at a time and made sure that each color was visually balanced. you can look at the first image at the top of this post to see what i mean. the turquiose stands out the most and you can see the balance easiest.

this is definitely not an instant gratification project like making a card or a layout, but more of a weekend-long project. in total it took me about 16 hours.......not granted, i have two young children constantly wanting to help and me to explain what i'm doing and how it works. they also like to give a hefty dose of their own design theory, LOL. but still....it's a weekend project for sure. the bulk of the time is cutting the boxes, but as the Silhouette was cutting, i was browsing Pinterest, folding a piece or two of laundry. ya know, multi-tasking.

the funnest part though? DECORATING all those little boxes, oh my! looooooved that part. that part alone took about 5 hours and i worked on it straight through. but it was so fun it didn't seem like that long at all.

the decorating part was also made SO much easier with the use of my SRM Stickers - especially those numbers! oh, how i'm smitten with those number stickers!

here's a list of the SRM Sticker sheets i used with links:
52028 - Quick Cards Believe
54006 - We've Got Your Sticker Plus Christmas
51009 - Sticker Sentiments Winter
51001 - Sticker Sentiments Happy Holidays
53006 - We've Got Your Sticker Christmas
48086 - Calendar Numbers Small
48093 - We've Got Your Number Small
48094 - We've Got Your Number Large
48088 - Calendar Months Large - Snappy
52013 - Quick Cards Merry

i already had a basket of Christmas themed/colored items sitting aside to make a December Daily (a la Ali Edwards) that i never got around to last year, so i just grabbed from that basket.

it ended up being a good amount of Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly, Little Yellow Bicycle's Christmas Delight, The Twinery Twine and a few Karen Foster Design stickers.

other than the boxes, i only cut one other shape using my Silhouette, and it's the little lime colored mistletoe leaves you see on boxes 13 and 18 (see image above).

here's the BEST part!

Silhouette is allowing me to offer my readers a PROMOTIONAL code for you to purchase your own Silhouette Advent Calendar at $29.99.........that's a full $10 discount!

you can get that discount by shopping in the Silhouette store, by following this link: Silhouette Advent Calendar. you'll enter the promo code at checkout.

Promo code is: SRM

this promotion will run from November 1 through November 11th ONLY! i have a strong feeling this will be the most popular alterable item this holiday season, so don't delay!

now, if you'll excuse me, i have to get busy planning what treats i'll be putting into each of these adorable little boxes. :)

FISKARS: Lanyard and Key Wristlet Tutorials

2011-10-25T10:44:00.004-04:00

please tell me i'm not the only one who constantly misplaces her keys? i mean, i've tried a number of things to make sure my keys are in the same place every single day, but nothing has really been the cure all for my forgetfulness.

the thing that has helped a little bit is hanging a hook on the wall just to hang my keys. but somehow they make their way off the hook and land in the most inconspicuous places. i blame in on the other three living, breathing things i live with....HA! nope, never my fault.

so to make finding my keys SO much easier, i stitched up some lanyards and key wristlets using bright and funky printed fabrics, and i have to say..........there haven't been many times since then that i've had trouble locating them.

AWESOMESAUCE!

my keys are currently on the red polka dot wristlet....because red and polkadots are my fav!

an even bigger bonus? when they fall to the bottom of my purse, i rarely have to dig. i just find the end of the wristlet and pull it up. :)

you should find yourself an extra hour and make some of your own! they are super easy, i promise. find out how in my step-by-step tutorial over on the Fiskars website: Lanyard & Key Wristlet Tutorials.

Enjoy!

all about me: a post by ashlyn

2011-10-22T09:58:00.004-04:00

found taped to her bedroom door.....

All About Me

My full name is Ashlyn Rose Willis. My hobbies are basketball, gymnastics, art and board games. I enjoy sleeping in a lot but that probably isn't a hobby. I get good grades and I'm in 4th grade. I enjoy friends and family so come on in! My goals of life are to get a scholarship and I want to be an artist or teacher for a living. If you would like to come in my room you must bring in good attitude and respect to everyone and thing. Please enjoy my room! Bad attitude and bad respect will get you kicked out! You may bring anything in my room but I don't allow bad attitude or bad respect! I do not like fighting or screaming. If you make fun of someone or something you will be kicked out! Please live life with love and happiness even if you have to work very hard! I hope you make great accomplishments in life. I will always encourage you as much as possible. Enjoy my room!

Sincerely,
Ashlyn :)

gosh, i love this kid! and i'm thinking maybe we are doing something right in this parenting business after all. hoping i can rescue this one for the treasure box before it finds the trashcan.

Pebbles Inc. had me as their guest....

2011-10-21T11:01:00.003-04:00

Pebbles Inc. asked me to be their October guest designer for the blog and i was beyond thrilled to be able to say yes!

i had so much fun mixing and matching the products from both the Fresh Goods and Floral Lane collections.

here's a look at just one of the projects i created for them, but click yourself on over to the Pebbles blog to see the others and read a bit about how i put them together.

a little birdie told me they are giving away a prize pack of Pebbles product today, also!

so, if you love some Pebbles Inc. product then you won't want to miss out on a great opportunity to win some, now would you? go now! :)

gorman heritage farm sunflower festival...

2011-10-17T09:10:00.011-04:00

as i mentioned in another post, we like to spend a good portion of every saturday outdoors during the month of october. a few weeks back we spent our time 90 miles south of here at the gorgeous Gorman Heritage Farm tucked away in the middle of a busy town in Evendale, Ohio.

we have a favorite local heritage farm closeby that i've blogged about many times before called Slate Run Historical Farm, but what lured me to this particular farm was their annual Sunflower Festival. i loooooooove me some sunflowers. they're my favorite flower, for sure.

the farm has several areas of interest and is fun for all ages. had it not been so cold and windy, i know my girls would have spent much more time in the Children's Garden, digging and planting, picking and pulling. they love that kind of stuff and this area was perfect for that.

but the wind was bitter cold so we made sure to keep our bodies moving up the hill and around the cornfield to find the farm and other activities. that's when doug and ashlyn found the popcorn stand and emma became fascinated with the cloggers clogging to one of katy perry's songs. but then they gathered all the kids that were watching and did a round of the chicken dance.

emma loves to dance. ashlyn, not so much.

after dancing and stuffing their faces with popcorn, they headed over to the chicken coop and got to hear stories from my childhood about collecting eggs at grandma's house. they learned that the blue spotted ones are those that are laying eggs.

but really, they were just interested in polishing off that bag of popcorn. LOL.

this one seamed to follow us every where we turned.

then we made friends with the billy goats. well....three of us did. spidergirl wanted nothing to do with them as you can see. which is so odd because she's normally not my fearful child. these sister reversed roles for the day, i suppose.

with permission from the farm hands, ashlyn lured them over to her with handfuls of popcorn, telling her the whole time..."see they won't hurt you....they won't bite."

spidergirl got brave and had her own handful of popcorn ready to feed them, but just as they started to eat from her hand, she tossed the popcorn.....

and stood up tall wanting them to get away. (this photo of her is a new favorite! irresistibly CUTE!)
but ashlyn, she was like the animal whisperer during this farm visit. she has such a sensitive and tender heart. i'm so thankful that we're seeing more and more of her personality and less and less of her anxiety.

after spending a fair amount of time with the goats we made our way to the barn where ashlyn romped on the bales of hay and made friends with the horse, while spidergirl was obsessed with hulling and grinding corn to make feed for the chickens.

and then............
we made our way over to the ginormous field of sunflowers. and my heart skipped a beat.

we grabbed ourselves a pair of snippers and started picking out our favorites and snipping them off for just 50 cents a stem! 50 cents! AWESOMESAUCE.

we snipped a bouquet for home and then the girls picked their favorite bloom to take in to their teachers.doug snipped sunflowers while i snapped photos. it was breathtaking. i seriously have never seen anything like it.

there were two photographers there honing their technique that i had a nice little conversation with. you better believe i asked one of them to take a family photo. :)

i couldn't get over how beautiful this not-yet-bloomed sunflower was in the midst of a field of blooms. there's a deep life analogy just hidden in this photo......late bloomer.....bursting with potential......ya know.

the rest are just some of my favorite photos.........um, EVER. i look at these and see just how truly blessed we are. despite all the trials, and despite all the medical crap we've had to deal with. despite all the shortcomings and despite all the failures, we still press on and put one foot in front of the other. with smiles on our face, even. the resilience we've been given is nothing short of amazing.

don't get me wrong.......life is still crazy! but these weekend outings are nourishment to my soul and keep reminding me just how blessed we are.

(ps....if you're local and you're looking for sunflowers, i found out the day after we went to the farm that there is a sunflower field (4 acres big, i think) at Circle S Farms in Grove City....it's actually a sunflower maze---like a corn maze, just through a sunflower field instead. not sure if they let you cut stems though.)

she's feelin' a little shy

2011-10-13T09:53:00.006-04:00

she's feelin' a little shy. that's what she tells me anyway. HA! hard to tell from that full-of-personality photo up above, eh? there isn't a single shy bone in her body.

i'm convinced that if this daughter of mine could bottle up her personality and sell it, she'd be a millionaire.

♥ love, love, love her. ♥

hey...did you notice she's missing something?

in a conversation this morning:
spidergirl: "Mom, would you be mad if today was picture day and I had a tooth missing?."
mom: "No. Not at all."
spidergirl: "Why? (pause) because i look even cuter with my tooth missing?"
mom: "Yes, baby. yes you do! Let's go take some pictures of that cuteness!"

conclusion: last night she lost her first tooth.....and today she looks even cuter. (and thanks to the tooth fairy is a little bit richer.)

Hello, Fall...

2011-10-12T13:04:00.003-04:00

i loooooove fall, so it's no surprise that i also love Little Yellow Bicycle's latest collection called, Hello, Fall.

i'm spending time today working up a new project using Hello, Fall.

see the whole collection HERE and more samples from the design team in the Hello, Fall gallery HERE. have you seen it in your local stores yet?

a little looney around here....

2011-10-11T10:22:00.003-04:00

yep. looney is the name of the game. it's how we roll. :)

as soon as i saw this photo download to the computer i cracked up laughing. it's a true representation of what life feels like right now for all of us...crazy!

if you don't laugh you'll be crying in your cheerios.

i've got spidergirl home sick today and 24 project deadlines on my task list all due by October 24th.

so instead of editing pictures for the blog, i'm taking advantage of this newly discovered time at home to edit 7 video tutorials.

i'll catch you back here tomorrow! be good.

sometimes i wonder...

2011-10-10T11:43:00.007-04:00

(Emma at Gorman Farm, October 1, 2011)

sometimes i wonder.

sometimes i wonder if she knows how many times my breath catches in my throat when i look at her? sometimes i wonder if she even knows just how beautiful she is? sometimes i wonder if she misses her grammy as much as i do? sometimes i wonder if she even remembers her grammy at all. sometimes i wonder if she'll make it to second grade without a broken bone. sometimes i wonder how long it will take for her to forget how that one teacher made her feel every report card by saying she talked too much? sometimes i wonder just how far her outgoing personality will take her. sometimes i wonder how many other people along the way will say something that makes her reserve her true self. sometimes i wonder if her big sister will one day become her bestest friend? sometimes i wonder if despite all the medications and immunotherapy injections will she still have asthma attacks? and sometimes i wonder how God is using her life story for His glory in ways that we'll never know?

sometimes i wonder if my mom wondered these things too.

and sometimes i wonder if i just plain think too much.

wordless wednesday

2011-10-06T09:56:00.002-04:00

Little Yellow Bicycle: Canvas Colorables

2011-10-05T09:43:00.007-04:00

have you seen the new Canvas Colorables in stock yet along with the Get Your Game On collection from Little Yellow Bicycle?

these things are SO cool and the options for altering them are absolutely endless. they come two to a package and you can find them for basketball, baseball, soccer and football.

when Little Yellow Bicycle mailed this collection to me, i didn't hesitate to jump right in and experiment a bit with a few of the canvases. the finished size measures approximately 5" x 7", but are printed on a slightly larger sized canvas and wrapped around a mat board type material making them sturdy enough to stand on their own.

i decided to try to alter these canvases using just the materials i could find around the house instead of going out and buying special paints. so for me, that meant, cheap acrylic craft paint, crayola watercolor paint, glitter glue and sharpie markers...oh, and a few colored pencils too.

i first created a light color wash using the crayola watercolors over the whole canvas.....that's the light blue you see filling in all the white space. then i went back and colored in the darker colors---blue, lime green, orange and yellow using acrylic craft paints that were slightly watered down to give that mottled look. any areas that were too saturated were easily wiped thin using a baby wipe.

to finish off the canvas, i colored in some brown with regular crayola colored pencils, then added glitter glue to the stars, added red highlights to the word 'SOCCER' using a damp q-tip dipped in red paint, and finally splattered some red and orange paint. to get the perfect splatters, i use a super cheap paint brush (a toothbrush could work too) and thin the paint with water.

once that was done, i added on some chipboard from the same collection along with a few star stick pins from the Head of Class collection.

for the basketball canvas i wanted to try something with a little more saturated color...

to do so, i started out by coloring the canvas in with Sharpie markers. the brown, blue, green, orange, and yellow is all Sharpie. once that was colored in, i went back over some of the areas with acrylic craft paint just to add highlights and give the colors some depth.

i did these highlights without watering down the color at all. i also added in some copper metallic and silver metallic paints to give it a bit of a shimmer which is hard to show through photos.

finally, i finished it off with a few chipboard shapes (the arrow and the basketball) to give it a more finished look and add some dimension.

now, you're wondering 'what do i do with it?' well, i'm glad you asked. in my opinion, this type of thing would be PERFECT to place in one side of a side by side frame along with a picture of your sports star, or to frame and give as a coach appreciation gift. really they can be personalized any way you see fit using team colors, adding numbers to the jersey, or even the player or coaches name.

OR, you can use your hole punching tool to turn it into the cover of your next mini album!

tales from the kitchen, AKA a willis kitchen nightmare...

2011-10-03T07:02:00.000-04:00

now that the kids are back to school and fall weather is on our doorstep things around here get a little more adventurous, especially since i *LOOOOOOVE* fall. i could take fall weather all year long. and my family is always up for adventure.

we started the first of many fall weekend adventures two weekends ago at Lynd Fruit Farm (our favorite local orchard) for our annual family field trip for some apple picking. ahhhh. traditions. *happy sigh*

i could tell you the obvious about these photos, like how ashlyn transformed into a monkey and climbed to the heights of the trees just to reach apples and be somewhere that her sister couldn't. or how spidergirl is an ornery 6 year-old multiplied times 10,000 as noted by all her looney facial expressions--that i love by the way. but, i couldn't let another day go by without reminiscing about the crazy that only seems to happen to me. the crazy that isn't so obvious.

but first....a little background.

you see, each year we usually schedule our trip to harvest Jonagold apples, but when i looked up the online picking schedule a month or so ago, i discovered that Jonagolds wouldn't be ready until September 24th...just 4 days after ashlyn's surgery. not knowing whether or not she'd feel up to the adventure, we just decided to play it safe and go the weekend before instead of risking not getting to go at all---which is exactly what happened last year.

this particular weekend ended up being the weekend of the MacIntosh, Cortland, and Jonathon. so here we are driving through the entrance at the orchard to grab our bags and ask which of the three were what we were wanting to fill our bags with and we were directed on down the lane to the row with the blue flags.

not being very familiar with these types of apples we decided that sampling one would help us decide which one would make the perfect apple pie. so we plucked one from the tree, doug shined it on his shirt and took a bite before handing it off to me to sample, then i handed it off to suzi, and so on. it's pretty easy to polish off an apple when you have 5 mouths taste-testing it. ha.

whewwwwwwww. was that thing sour and super juicy. while tart apples are a good thing for pie, this one had absolutely no hint of sweet at all. passsss.

so we made our way to the next aisle. nope not the right kind either. bummer.

back in the car and across the street we landed ourselves in the Cortland orchard. better, but still not quite what i was looking for. but at this point, we're here to have fun and not look for perfection right. (something i have to remind myself of way too often) and gooooodness gracious, we have things to do!

i made an executive decision to just go with it--no more wasting precious minutes allowed! let's get this apple picking party started because we all know it's a law--when you pick a 1/2 bushel of apples, you must go home and DO something with them. yes?

for us, that always means i make an apple pie (or two....or three)---which is doug's favorite. i'm not a fan of apple pie, but i eat one small piece a year from the pie i make immediately after coming home from the orchard.....i mean, all that hard work shouldn't be in vain, now should it?

so, as you can imagine, while the actual picking is a fun family adventure, the real magic happens after we get home. we almost immediately start washing, peeling, coring and slicing just to make an apple pie. after 16 years of making this particular apple pie recipe, i have this thing down.

or you'd think i would anyway. LOL.

i liken guesstimating the amount of apples you need to peel, core and slice for my pie recipe to trying to figure out how many potatoes to scrub, rinse and peel for a pot of mashed taters. i *always* over guesstimate. you'd think after 16 years i'd gather my apples and put about 5 of them back to save myself some work. LOL.

anywho. while starting to wash the apples, i found ashlyn in the kitchen at my side, uber excited about helping me to make the pies. this NEVER happens! she'd usually rather pluck out strands of hair one by one until she's bald than help me cook in the kitchen. but always being up for a challenge (or disaster, however you want to look at it), i welcomed the help. i rarely shoo the kids from the kitchen. i love to have them learn the way i learned.

she helped pick the apples she thought were best, then she disappeared for a few, then she was back to do the coring and made it through four apples before disappearing again only to return when they were all done with disappointment in her tone because she couldn't do more. and she tried to peel but doesn't quite have the coordination to use the apple peeler. it was frustrating her and she wasn't in the mood to win that battle. so off she went to practice her handstands in the middle of the livingroom. *sigh*

but i finally captured her full attention when it was time to start measuring and mixing the ingredients that makes apple pie so delectable and delicious (yes, that's a commonly used phrase in our house...'delectable and delicious'). so we measured and mixed and started filling the first pie shell when we realized "holy guacamole, why did we prep so many apples?"

while we realized before we started we'd probably have enough apples for two pies, never did we ever dream we'd have enough for THREE! so, a few quick adjustments later and the thought of wasting perfectly delicious apples was no longer a thing of concern.

while we were measuring and mixing and filling pie crusts, doug was preheating the oven for us and dancing around our mess trying to cook dinner. if you know my kitchen at all, you know how laughable that must be that the three of us were in the kitchen trying to do our thing without causing a royal disaster. my kitchen is tiny.

before preheating the oven he covered the bottom rack in an overlapping layer aluminum foil and declared it ready to go. he was ready to help me fill up the oven with three pies. we briefly talked about three possibly not fitting and wondered, even if they did would there be enough air circulation around them to cook properly? i don't know, what do i look like a pie maker or something. heh.

we decided to cook all three at once and just watch them closely so we could adjust the baking time if necessary. we just didn't know how closely we'd be watching them. heh.

5 minutes into baking them i notice a burning smell.....the oven was filled with a hazy smoke. no worries, i thought. just too many pies in the oven. we'll take one out and do them in two batches. i wondered if the third pie would be okay to sit for an hour while the first two baked. but really, if it wasn't, we already had two others .

we couldn't figure out otherwise what would make the oven fill with smoke.

we put two pies back in the oven and 5 minutes later it's still smoking. ugh. so, it's not the pies. we're so smart. ha.

that's when we took out the pies, turned the oven off, removed the racks, and noticed there was a small amount of something on the bottom of the oven. so we let it cool, wiped out the oven, put the foil back on the bottom rack, put the racks back in, preheated the oven again, and put the pies in for an hour.

about halfway through the baking time, we're all sitting in the livingroom watching a show with the kids, when i look toward the kitchen and notice smoke wafting into the livingroom. i immediately jumped up and ran to the kitchen to see smoke billowing through the burners on the top of the oven and opened the oven to find a FIRE IN MY OVEN!

*insert mini-freakout*

i've been cooking and baking my entire married life....and even years before....and never have i ever caught anything on fire. i suppose there's a first for everything, eh?

i yelled for doug to hurry (he was in the basement checking his football stats) and help because there's a FIRE IN THE OVEN! the kids were terrified. and as it turns out, fire scares the living daylights out of me.

i'm so thankful that suzi was there because she helped calm their fears to let them know it was going to be okay despite my mini-freakout. i'm so thankful that doug has nerves of steel and as usual was cool as a cucumber. he doesn't ever freak about anything.

remember those super juicy apples? well it turns out, super juicy apples (even though the orchard staff told me they were) aren't great apples for baking pies. ha.

looking back, i should have adjusted the measurement of the flour to help make up for the super juicy apples. it would have caused the extra runny syrup to gel a little better. but because i didn't they ran over onto the overlapping pieces of aluminum foil covering the second rack in the oven, then ran between the layers of foil onto the bottom of the oven and caught fire.

yikes!

it was self-contained, and quickly burned itself out, but jeez louise that was a very nerve-racking few minutes.

so, what'd we do? you guessed it. we took the racks out, turned the oven off, let it cool, scrubbed it down for the second time, put the racks back in, put the pies onto foiled-covered cookie sheets, and finished baking them.

then, we still had a third pie to bake. we debated on whether it was worth it to go through all that again, but the third one baked without incident. what a looooooooong day. HA. but the pie was DELICIOUS.

that's one pie making experience that we'll talk about every year from here on out. so worth the energy to have humorous memories like these to look back on.

and just for the record: i didn't get any pictures and that was the first thing that was joked about when the whole ordeal was over. "i can't believe you didn't holler for doug to bring the camera."

i hope our other weekend adventures are a little less, um......adventurous.

Video Tutorial: Get Your Game On

2011-09-28T10:01:00.006-04:00

so, you're looking at this layout and you're thinking to yourself "that doesn't interest me! i don't have boys and my girls don't play sports!" i urge you to hang on just a moment and hear me out. :)

while this video is clearly a masculine baseball layout, i assure you the techniques shown in the video have nothing to do with masculinity OR baseball, LOL. so there's something to learn here that can be used on any type of layout. take a look for yourself...

here's some closeup peeks at the painting techniques i cover in the video. they are all super quick, super easy, and a great way to add a little ooooomph to your layout. i mean, so easy, even my elementary-aged kids have them mastered.

if you're interested, you may download the free step-by-step instructional sheet for this layout: Baseball Layout Instructions by Tania Willis.

but let's say, you do have boys (or girls) and they do play sports....just not baseball. well, have i got news for you!

Little Yellow Bicycle released a collection recently called Get Your Game On. it includes Baseball, Basketball, Soccer and Football.

so, you're wondering how can you make this baseball layout work if your guy plays football? easy enough. just swap about the baseball themed products for the football themed ones, add a few 4x6 photos and you've got yourself a finished football layout!

how awesome is that!? of course these products also work for girls playing soccer or basketball. just use your paint to bring the team colors onto the layout using the techniques shared in the video!

she did great!

2011-09-23T21:19:00.004-04:00

so, yeah. ashlyn had surgery tuesday and i've pretty much been hoppin' ever since. she's kept me busy. she's a busy body and demands constant entertainment, so we've been busy playing games, watching movies, painting toenails, coloring, and trying to rest. noticing i said trying.

she did so well, though. thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers and emails. :)

we arrived at the surgery center about 40 minutes from our home at o'dark thirty in the morning---seriously early, with spidergirl accompanying us because it was too early for before school childcare and we didn't find out her surgery time until 3 o'clock the day before.

ashlyn was her typical self for the most part, but had many moments of appearing very nervous and distracted. i can tell by her blank stares and how she picks at her fingers or bites her bottom lip. my only complaint about the whole thing was how long they had her waiting in the admitting area.

once she was back in the pre-op area, you can see she was mostly smiles. they did the typical--don the hairnet, height, weight, blood pressure, oxygen level, and temperature. all with her brave face.

then she got to pick a scent to go inside her mask and decorate it with stickers. she picked watermelon which we both thought was unusual considering the other choices were bubblegum, strawberry, grape, cherry and root beer. we would have guessed she'd pick any of them other than watermelon.

then she got a cocktail of three meds squirted in her mouth and i almost missed this picture because i was bracing myself ahead of time for a meltdown to ensue or her to spit it back out all over the place. she's never been a fan of trying new things and oftentimes will express extreme displeasure---but she was SO brave and swallowed it without gagging or spitting it out. all the while doug telling me......"that's the picture you need to get."

i got it. grainy as can be, but i got it, LOL.

then, the nervousness set in. she retreats into herself when she's nervous or afraid and gets really quiet. like she's thinking of a way to escape it all.

but my quick thinking mommy brain was scanning the room for something, anything to perk her back up again. if you've been reading for a while, you probably know i usually come prepared to surgeries with little props or fun things to make everyone laugh--after being through 4 already with spidergirl, we just have this down pat.

but, parenting ashlyn has always been such a challenge with her sensory issues. i've noticed that i'm constantly thinking four or five steps ahead on how i can avoid a meltdown, or how can i phrase my questions without her getting defensive, or......well, you get the idea. it's like dancing on eggshells and trying not to crush them under your feet.

and things that have worked for spidergirl, i knew wouldn't fly with her.

so, anyway, i kinda just had to wing it when it came to distractions. that's when my eye caught the dry erase board leaning in the corner on the counter top. you know, the one that says who the patient is, who the doctor is and what procedure you're having done....oh, and any allergies. right under the board was a dry erase marker.

perfect distraction.

she looooooooves dry erase boards. i mean, she's obsessed with them. she loves to draw, and she loves to make people happy with her compliments. so she set to work with some helpful writing prompts from the three of us and when she was finished it looked like this...

and it did the trick for both her and for the staff. just moments after she finished it up and put it back in it's place dr. massick walked in and answered questions, calmed her fears, and they were off.

that's when she lost it. great big sobbing tears. she didn't want to go back alone. :(

not sure what they gave her in that cocktail but it didn't take the edge off for her at all. with spidergirl, she was always super loopy before going back. maybe it was the age difference.

about 30 minutes later we were walked back into recovery to see the more adorable, yet pitiful face ever. she was in lots of pain and staring blankly, not quite sure what to make of all of it. daddy tried to cheer her up with a little puppet show but she was having no part of that.

but the nurse took super great care of her and gave her some more pain meds through her IV and after two doses of that and sending daddy and spidergirl out to the waiting room for a bit, she was able to sleep off some of the anesthesia.

by 3:45 that afternoon i was seriously asking myself...."did she really just have surgery?" she was perfectly normal. i'm guessing flying high as a kite on those two doses of morphine-like medicine.

the next day...same thing. but was on some post-op narcotic pain meds.

two days later, she hit a wall. she did absolutely nothing all day yesterday except move from couch to the bed, back to the couch. but she wasn't feeling any pain.

now, our biggest chore is finishing up all the make-up work they've sent home from school and getting her to finish this antiobiotic without a fight twice a day for the next 4 days.

i've got a secret weapon though. Hershey Kisses. :)

seriously, all you mamas out there reading, try it! i don't use it as a bribe, but as a weapon against the nasty taste. here's how: allow them to melt a hershey kiss on their tongue about a minute before you give them the medicine....no chewing allowed. the melted chocolate coats the tongue and then when they swallow the medicine they don't taste the yucky flavored medicine as strongly.

i learned that from another mom and it's the best mommy tip i've ever gotten. :)

we're thinking she'll go back to school monday, but we'll first have to see how she feels after taking her chemo this week. that alone wears her out, so, maybe half-days for a few days to ease back into it. we'll see.

i'm glad this is behind us now. she did soooooooo much better than any of us anticipated. :)
(please excuse any typos.......i'm too tired to correct them tonight)

awwww.

2011-09-19T10:11:00.004-04:00

these two sisters.

one who hasn't ever had a surgery, and will have her first tomorrow.
another who's been down that road before. not once, not twice, but four times already.

"it's gonna be alright ashie. don't be sad. your friends are going to miss you, you have to go see them today. they'll make you cards. and tell you to get well soon. it's okay. don't be sad."

these two can be at each others throats all day long, bickering until you wish you could be deaf, but if one needs a little tender loving care, you better believe that the other will be up for the task.

she's struggling to hold back the tears today. and didn't want anything to do with going to school. she's scared. she doesn't want to be put to sleep and she doesn't want yucky medicine. :(

say a little prayer for her, would ya?

adenoids come out tomorrow.

help me out here, would ya?

2011-09-17T10:25:00.002-04:00

so, hey. confession time: i think i forgot how to be witty and write in this space here.

blogging feels so foreign to me lately and i can't quite put my finger on why. which is even more weird because i've been blogging for SIX years. six years.

in that six years there have been several shifts in our family as the kids grow older. there have also been shifts in focus of why i blog, but it's never really felt this difficult. i need some inspiration. like STAT.

there have been lots of challenges for our little family this summer. but every time i go to blog about them, i find myself not wanting to say anything. or not knowing how to say it. some of them haven't been our stories to tell.

all that to say..........i've got nothing,

but it's killing me inside that this space sits empty more often than it's filled while life keeps on happening all around me.

i want to remember ALL of it. and the only way for me to do that is to live it, process it, and share it in this space. remembering otherwise is just a joke because aparently all my brain cells are fried.

that got me thinking.....

why not ask my readers:
for some blog/journaling prompts?
or for questions you might have?
or what would you like to know about my little family?

i'm hoping next week can be a 'blog every day' week as i'll be home with ashlyn as she recovers from surgery.

now if you'll excuse me, i've gotta get back to my sewing machine to get some work done so we can enjoy some fall traditions and go pick apples at the orchard this afternoon.

then i can come home and make some delicious apple pie. you can find my recipe here.

speaking of recipes.....do anyone of you have a tried and true super creamy spinach artichoke dip recipe? i've got a craving for it.

wow, this post was kinda all over the place. that's pretty much what being inside my brain is like right now. lots and lots of chaos.

now, where was i? oh, right. getting off here so i can finish my work at the sewing machine.

have a great weekend sweet friends! help me out.......k?

have you heard?

2011-09-15T09:45:00.005-04:00

i'm super swamped with freelance work right now, but wanted to poke my head in to pass some exciting news in the industry along to all my scrapbooking friends.

so here we go..........

First: Little Yellow Bicycle is looking for some short-term designers!

Here's the details:
They are forming a "Cycling Team." With each new collection they're going to pick a few new designers (about 3-5 per collection). Those designers will join the Cycling Team for the month after the collection is released. They'll send you some product (not the entire collection, but lots of goodies!). This is not a long-term design team commitment - just some fun and ... free stuff!

Here's what's required from a Cyclist:

1) Make ONE project with what they send you - a layout, some cards, a mini album, an altered item...whatever makes you happy!

2) Send some pictures of it, and a little write-up or how-to of how you created it.

3) Post it on your blog (if you're not a blogger, that's not required, but it is preferred ... so if you don't have a blog, get one of your blogger friends to post it on their blog!) They'll post it to the LYB blog too, of course!

That's it! Sound like something you're interested in?

Tryouts for the team are starting RIGHT NOW! If you want to join, just send a few samples of your best stuff (you don't have to use LYB products, but of course, we'd love it if you did) to lori@cthruruler.com.

Little Yellow Bicycle will announce the first two teams for Head of the Class and Get Your Game On next Wednesday, September 21st.

Second: There's a new die-cut company called iDiecut!

iDiecut.com offers the latest and most popular shapes and designs for your personal die cutting machine---in my case, the Silhouette.

You will find many of the industry’s well-known designers and manufacturers represented at this site. I did some poking around over there this morning and let me tell you, there is an amazing selection of super cute shapes.

What's even better? There's a coupon code for 25% off your purchase now through September 30th. At checkout, just enter: welcome25

hurry........go tell all your friends! :)
and don't forget to make today AWESOME!

FISKARS: Ruffled Canvas Totes

2011-09-13T09:30:00.004-04:00

i'm excited to share with you another project i created for Fiskars. i'm so loving working with their amazing tools and having the opportunity to create some projects that have been on my "want to create" list for a long while.

and i'm especially loving making friends with my sewing machine again! oh, how i've missed it.

my latest sewing adventure? these ruffled canvas totes....

i'm officially addicted to making them and you can be too! the full project instructions are available on the Fiskars website: Ruffled Canvas Totes.

they are super fun and make and even more fun to give as gifts! we've already given this rosette, single ruffle tote to the nurse at emma's allergist who we see every week for her allergy shots. she looooved it.

i get asked often how i learned to do all this creative crafty stuff and i always say "i don't know, i just know how." LOL.

i've been sewing since i was 19 on an old hand-me-down machine. it helps that my personality type is one where i'm always willing to take on a challenge and learn as i go, honing my skill along the way.

so, the truth is, i'm self-taught through trial and error and also years of hovering over my grammy's shoulder watching her put her foot to the pedal to make the magic happen. i've made quilts, and clothes, and wall hangings, and formal dresses in years past, but my machine has been lonely for a while sitting in the corner.

but not any more.

i've got lots more fabric projects up my sleeve. :) having an attitude of "i can do that!" has been such a blessing and i'm so thankful for it.

so, i'm wondering how many of my readers sew...do you?

if you were a fly on the wall....

2011-09-09T07:24:00.001-04:00

in my home, you would hear these phrases often.

"That's what she said." - doug
"My tummy hurts." - spidergirl
"You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." - all of us
"What!???" - ashlyn
"Everybody love everybody." - doug
"Dude. Seriously?" - ashlyn
"Just wait...pause." - ashlyn
"Can I sleep in the little bed?" - ashlyn
"Will you make me some milk?" - ashlyn
"Turn the tv down." - me
"Just a second." - me
"Morning little darling." - doug
"Will you make me some chips & cheese?" - spidergirl
"I don't feel so good." - spidergirl
"Daaaaaaad, she's not sharing." - ashlyn
"No fair." - spidergirl
"I'm just pullin' your peach." - ashlyn
"Can I watch Spongebob?" - spidergirl
"I don't wanna brush my teeth, I'm still hungry!" - spidergirl
"I hate reading." - ashlyn
"Welcome to your happy place." - doug
"Where's my phone?" - me

if i tiptoe back in.....

2011-09-08T15:31:00.003-04:00

will you not notice that i've been a little quiet when it comes to things on the homefront?

i don't know what my problem is lately, but i feel a little tongue-tied. i have gobs and gobs of stories (& pictures) from clear back to fourth of july and i just don't even know where to begin. it all feels so very overwhelming to me right now.

in the past several weeks i've started a dozen or more posts talking about more transparent type things and not just skimming the surface of what we did or where we went, but then i get a little self-conscious and hesitate to put it all out there. nothing i type has felt right. yet i have this deep desire to connect.

something is quietly telling me to be still.

i've been going through this stage of wanting to keep stories about my family to myself for a few months and i'm not quite sure where it's coming from because, hello.....telling stories is an integral part of what i do for a living. not to mention a big part of how i connect with others.

life just feels weird. i feel like i'm trying to find my place in this world all over again.

that ugly beast called 'perfection' has crept back in and is causing a struggle within my heart. it tells the most believable lies, ya know.

i'm back in another 'parenting is hard' stage. parenting a special needs child is even more difficult. parenting a special needs child with medical issues is even more difficult than that.

but hey. i'm always up for a challenge. :) sometimes with more confidence than others. now is not one of those times. ahem.

wow, that all sounded so melodramtic. this is exactly why i started a dozen or more posts and all the while wore out my backspace key doing so. LOL. i'm so confused i don't even make much sense to myself. ha.

anywho.
in other news:

my sister-in-law is moving back to columbus by october 1st! :) i love her so. and watching my kids play with her kids isn't nothing short of delightful. seriously. i see some sleepovers with cousins in the future! :)

ashlyn has been through the initial consult for the interceptive phase of braces to correct an open bite and anterior cross bite. she was accepted into the orthodontic program at our Children's Hospital. she's super excited and only wanted to know if they had rubberbands that were turquoise and if they could do patterns. yes and yes.

we made it 2 weeks into the school year without being tardy! awesome. (we were 1 minute late today)

i've been feeling marvelous for the past 2 weeks! me thinks this chemo is actually doing something.

we are back to just a family of 4 now. for the past several months doug was assigned as a legal supervisor to a friend and his children as they were in the midst of a custody battle. we had them 2-3 weeknights and all day every other weekend. ugly situation that is now resolved. he would do just about anything for a friend.

i've been working like a madwoman in the studio! looooooooove it. you'll see everything here on the blog when i can share. i SO wish i could show everything now.

my studio is absolutely atrocious. i might need an intervention soon. ha.

that's about it folks. kinda all over the place, eh?

Video & Tutorial: Teacher Appreciation Cards

2011-09-07T09:07:00.001-04:00

do you need a little something to give to those teachers with whom your little darlings spend so much of their day? how about a handwritten note inside of a handmade card using the Head of Class collection by Little Yellow Bicycle!

if you're not feeling too overly confident in your hand-crafting/cardmaking skills i'm here to help!

my latest video tutorial walks you through step-by-step on how to create the pencil-shaped card, and the downloadable PDF (at the end of this post) provides you with the complete supply list for all 4 cards, walks you through the directions (with dimensions) for making each of the 4 cards AND provides the necessary templates----all for FREE. :)

the cards you find in this tutorial are all very playful and fun, including this pencil card. as you'll see in the video, this card isn't nearly as difficult as it may appear.

it's the small details that really make this card pop! watch the video and you'll see for yourself how easy it is to make one of your own!

here's a peek at the other 3 cards included in the download....

i'm having a hard time deciding which one is my favorite----it's a toss up between the pencil and the apple. i just *adore* shaped cards. the unique shape just adds that extra punch, i think.

this next one takes literally two minutes to put together. it's so super simple. you'll spend more time writing a sentiment inside and on those little pencils than assembling it for sure.

using the 10 Things I Love About School pocket would be a really fun way to get the whole classroom to participate! as a group they could come up with things they love about their teacher/class and then finish with a personal sentiment on the inside. easy peasy!

lastly, i couldn't resist making a card for our beloved art teacher! nothing was more perfect than piecing together something that resembles an Elmer's glue bottle. i think art, music, and gym teachers are often forgotten when we think of teacher appreciation, but they really do play an integral role in educating our children.

when piecing together this card, i wanted to draw from the colors of a glue bottle and of course incorporate tons of layers. the larger blue chipboard piece was the perfect background upon which i could build those layers. :)

are you ready to make your own set!?

no? teacher appreciation not your thing? considering making a set and using them as hidden journaling cards on a back to school layout! :)

Download: Teacher Appreciation Cards Instructions

enjoy! :)

coming soon.....

2011-09-04T10:47:00.005-04:00

you're sneakin' a peek at a project created for a new video & free tutorial using Little Yellow Bicycle's Head of Class collection. :)

coming soon.

back to school layouts...

2011-08-31T11:09:00.000-04:00

while i've always been persistent about taking photos on the first day of school every year, i've never been one to really scrapbook those back to school pictures unless an assignment required me to. i'm not really sure why that is, i just haven't...until now. :)

Little Yellow Bicycle just released a school themed collection called Head of Class and i couldn't resist reaching for some of our older school photos---because we all know i'm not *that* on the ball with printing the new ones. LOL.

(spidergirl: preschool)

after making these projects, i've decided a few things:

i quite like scrapbooking with this Head of Class collection. :)
i'm wondering why i waited so long to scrap back to school photos---as they always show such cool growth from year to year.
i'm going to journal about each year as if i wrote the journaling during the time period that they were in that grade.
with these layouts i'm starting to build them each their "graduation party" album now. :) (YAY me for being on the ball!)

there is nothing really unique about this layout, just lots of layering. the number strip was cut using my Silhouette machine and Bazzill cardstock. the colors in this collection are very much primary colors and i didn't want to reprint the photo as black & white, so i used the number strip to pull in the pink from her outfit. journaling was typed using a typewriter and reads:

My goodness, look at you! You’re getting to be such a big girl now that you’re attending Preschool through (name withheld) at (location withheld) in (city withheld). Ms. Nicole and Ms Angie are your teachers and they tell me you absolutely adore being a preschooler, but can’t wait until you can ride the bus to school with your big sister. You’ve made quite a few friends in Preschool, but we often hear about your favorite friends as being two boys named Michael and Wyatt. You’re learning all the skills you need to become a successful Kindergarten student and you tell me your favorite part of the day is doing centers and you especially enjoy getting to spend time on the computer. I love that you’re excited about learning, Emma. Photo taken: 8/24/2009

(ashlyn: kindergarten)

this layout here is so funny to me because it's of ashlyn on her first day of kindergarten. she has somewhat of a special education history/story, so while her first day of kindergarten was sept 5, she will also have a layout of the first day of first grade on sept 23....the same year. :)

kindergarten lasted a whole 18 days. LOL.

the story of how all that happened will be journaled about on her 'first grade' page and more details of how we arrived at our decision to put her in a special needs class will be put on pages of her preschool year. most likely just copy/pasted right from my blog entries during those times. there really isn't much of a story to her kindergarten days....all two weeks of them.

i loved both of these pictures, but that didn't leave much room for my lengthy journaling, so i adhered the larger photo down both sides and along the bottom with no adhesive in the middle leaving a pocket to slip the journaling card down into.

again, the journaling was typed on my typewriter and reads:

Ashlyn, today is the first day of Kindergarten for you at (school withheld) in Mrs. (teacher withheld)'s class. This day couldn’t have come soon enough, as you love school and are more than ready for another year of learning! Deciding to hold you back from the full-day kindergarten class last year and placing you in a special needs class with Mrs. (teacher withheld) was the best decision we’ve made for your concerning your education. You grew by leaps and bounds both emotionally and socially. Her class also gave you the confidence and assurance that you needed being that you were entering an unfamiliar building and unfamiliar surroundings. I’m confident that occupational therapy at Children’s hospital coupled with the special attention received in Mrs. (teacher withheld) class has prepared you to have the most successful Kindergarten year you could possibly have. You’re one brilliant little girl and I can’t wait to see how well you’ll transition and excel in your new classroom. Photo taken 9/5/2008

if you have other questions that i didn't answer about the layouts, just let me know in the comments. :)

Fiskars Seal of Approval Winner!

2011-08-30T09:10:00.004-04:00

random.org generated comment #3 as the winner of the Fiskars Seal of Approval X-Large Squeeze Punch!

so that's.......Suzy! (email me with your address, Suzy)

CONGRATULATIONS!

FISKARS: Yo-Yo Pillow

2011-08-29T13:37:00.000-04:00

this is a project that i've had in my head waiting to come out for a super long time, but i've never made the time to do it. but, i'm SO excited i finally got to do it with the help of some amazing Fiskars tools. and now, i get to share it with you! :)

if you've been a blog reader for some time, or in any of my Embellishments: Beautifully Handmade classes, you know how incredibly obsessed i am with making yo-yos.

they are so easy to whip up, super pretty. and they give me a good excuse to do some more shopping at the fabric store. heee.

so that pretty pile of fabric circles, quickly turned to these...

and 25 of those got handpicked and placed like this....then, stitched down and turned into this pillow...

which is hands-down my most favorite thing i've ever made, EVER!

come find out how to make your very own Yo-Yo Pillow, step-by-step-by-step. it's my most recently featured project over at Fiskars!

it's a completely FREE tutorial...........what'cha waitin' for!?!

let's talk teacher's gifts....

2011-08-26T08:17:00.005-04:00

do you use gifts a small notes of encouragement to help start the year off right when your student(s) return to school?

if so, give me some of your ideas, please. :)

and in return, i'll share a closer peek at what we're doing........

we're delivering some handmade card sets that the teacher can use to reward, recognize or encourage her students (or colleagues) throughout the year. for each occasion in which i'd normally give a teacher's gift, i'll just add to her supply with a few more sets of cards.

my favorite one of the bunch is this award ribbon. :) i'm kinda obsession with layering Fiskars punches and using my SRM stickers to make these ribbons. they look rather complicated, but i assure you, i made 4 of them in less than 15 minutes. :)

punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, snip, snip snip, fold and layer. easy peasy.

this particular ribbon is removable and has a pin back on it so the student can actually wear it for his/her accomplishment.

every teacher needs a supply of birthday cards! heck, they could use a whole basket of nothing but birthday cards. making them 5x7 leaves plenty of room for it to be passed around for all the classmates to sign too.

and who doesn't like a little pat on the back once in a while. i know this card looks complicated to duplicate, but i assure you it isn't. learn how by heading over to my article at Fiskars.com.

Stickers are from these SRM sets:
Sticker Sentiments - Congratulations
We've Got Your Sticker - Happy

so, hey. i wanna help you build up your supply of Fiskars products.

head on over to Fiskars and read my latest article, Teacher's Gift: Card Sets, to learn more tips and ideas on how to do quickly and efficiently.

then come back and enter your name in the comments to win one of these.......
it's the Seal of Approval Extra Large Squeeze Punch.

no jumping through hoops, no shenanigans and i'll pay shipping. but, i would like to hear any other ideas you have regarding gift giving for teachers, but it's totally not necessary for your entry. :)

just leave your name and make sure to check back or i have a way to contact you to win! Good Luck! :) i'll draw a winner monday morning.

congrats...

2011-08-25T17:26:00.000-04:00

several weeks ago.....or months ago.....i challenged myself to make a handful of cards using just one sticker sheet from SRM Stickers (Sticker Sentiments - Congratulations, shown below) along with only products that were on my studio table, within immediate reach.

here's what i ended up with.....
this one is new Cosmo Cricket patterned paper from their Social Club collection, woodgrain paper (unknown source), along with chipboard stickers from the same Cosmo Cricket collection, matched with some pleated ribbon from May Arts, and the 'Scalloped Sentiment Fiskars border punch. super simple.

this one is a mix of Cosmo Cricket Social Club and Circa 1934. super simple with lots of layers to make it look more sophisticated.

a super simple way---and one of my favorites---to add depth to your solid backgrounds is to punch circles from the same color cardstock, then attach them randomly to the background cardstock. it creates a lovely dimension and depth to an otherwise boring piece of solid cardstock. for this one i used my Round N Round Medium Fiskars Squeeze Punch.

this one is a mix of Little Yellow Bicycle, Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon patterned paper, May Arts ribbons, Little Yellow Bicycle stick pins, Jillibean Soup journaling spot, Fiskars Leaves Border Punch and Cloud Punches, and old, old chipboard that i can't even remember where it came from. and of course SRM stickers.

this one is some Cosmo Cricket, Little Yellow Bicycle & KI Memories patterned paper, May Arts ribbons, that same old, old chipboard (anyone know where that's from), and a few brads. super simple.

and this one looks so much better in real life. what is it about pinks and purples not photographing well? anywho. pink dotted strip was cut from and old heidi swapp file folder, mixed with some bazzill dotted swiss cardstock, Scalloped Sentiment Fiskars border punch again, felt flowers from American Crafts, and stitched button flower from Sassafras Lass. all old, old, old products.

SRM Sticker Sentiments - Congratulations

like i mentioned, all sentiment stickers on these cards came from this sticker sheet. and i still have enough to make at least a dozen more cards. loooooooove these sticker sheets from SRM. love them.

Week In The Life 2011: Friday

2011-08-24T15:38:00.000-04:00

(source: etsy)

a month later and i'm finally wrapping up the last few days of my Week In the Life 2011 project here on the blog. sheesh. life has been moving a lightning speed lately.

Monday-Thursday can be seen here.

noticing::
that, corny as it sounds, life is perfectly imperfect, and just plain beautiful.

enjoying::
dinner out. mexican again. this time a lovely treat from my dad for my birthday. that makes mexican four time this week....or was it five? i dunno, but wow---we hardly ever eat out and somehow we've managed to eat out more this week than we have in the last three months. ha.

loving::
watching spidergirl eat chips and queso. that girl eats so much cheese i keep telling her she's going to turn into a piece of cheese.

wishing::
that i could drop everything and make one of those "this is my happy place" signs. RIGHT NOW. i love it. i love it. i love it. i can't tell you how many times doug and i have had the conversation about how i want our house to feel. the conversation that ends with me saying....i just want this to be my happy place. whenever things are chaotic at home, i get a little discouraged. so doug, lovingly mocks me, and says...."welcome to your happy place." and it makes me laugh every.single.time. it made me smile so big when i came across the image on Pinterest.

waiting::
it's a little tradition of ours to head for icecream after eating at the mexican place, then going to visit the pet store right next door. emma is a lover of all animals, but those dang allergies keep us from having our own pets. she's not allowed to hold the animals, but can pet with two fingers. then we all sanitize our hands and take showers as soon as we walk in the door. i hate that she has such a reaction to pets. this particular evening we found ourselves stuck in the pet shop for an hour while we waited for a torrential downpour to let up enough to be safe driving home. (and i love how my step-mom, dad, and grandma are all looking on in the background)

anticipating::
vacation to myrtle beach! the anticipation was just made a little stronger when little grandma handed over a wad full of ones to each girl after dinner. souvenir money. how sweet of her. :)

hardly believing::
that ashlyn is in her room, laying in her own bed, with no one else around. this rarely happens. rarely. she doesn't normally sit still, let alone spend time in a room by herself. and time with her baby is becoming less and less. she's growing up.

shopping::
clothes to wear in 100 degree weather on vacation for me, watershoes for ashlyn, earplugs for spidergirl, and, um...nothing for doug. he sees something he likes he buys it all year long so he rarely needs anything when i'm out shopping.

smiling::
every time i glance over at the picture drawn by Chuck E Cheese of me and spidergirl. she's definitely my mini-me, no doubt about it. crazy cool kinda resemblence. i love it.

ahhhhhh, vacation...

2011-08-23T09:46:00.016-04:00

i've always said "i hate going to the beach." but, after this trip, i think i'll have to retract that statement...or rephrase it.

what i really hate is cleaning up all the sand after going to the beach, not the beach itself. :)

because let's face it. no matter how long you try to shower off that sand at the beach and again once you return home, you're still finding sand in your hair, in your car, in your shoes and at the bottom of your suitcase weeks later.

it's all worth it though when you come home with pictures like these and memories they won't ever forget.

we're ever so grateful to have family living so close to the beach that is willing to allow us a week-long stay at their home, free of charge, so we could go on vacation.

for.the.first.time.in.six.years.

why did we wait so long? i'll never know.

we've already vowed that we won't wait that long again and we've already started saving our pennies for another vacation. i'd love to be able to take the girls to disney world before they are too old to enjoy it. but we've been told to prepared for it to cost thousands. :(

so for now, it's just a big dream. *sigh*. someday.

p.s. we did way more on vacation than just go to the beach, so i have many more pictures to share.

back to school...

2011-08-22T19:26:00.000-04:00

spidergirl: entering first grade this year.

ashlyn: entering fourth grade this year.

it's gonna be a good year!

how do you start the year off right with your student's teachers?

if you're looking for an idea, i have a new article up on the Fiskars website talking about what we'll be doing, along with several sample photos so you can create your very own.

check out the full article, Teacher's Gift: Sets of Cards.

sigh i wanna go back....

2011-08-21T20:17:00.003-04:00

school starts tomorrow.

we're busy labeling supplies, packing bookbags, making lunches, picking out 'first day' outfits, and spending one last summer night together before our nights are consumed with dinner, homework, bath and bedtime with not much time for anything else.

i'm looking forward to morning routines again. but, oh how i wish we could go to the beach and spend one last carefree day together.

*sigh*

i am looking forward to getting back into daily blogging again, though. i have so many photos to share, so much that's gone unsaid and so many projects waiting for their limelight. :)

see you back here tomorrow?

have you heard of Pinterest?

2011-08-19T09:16:00.000-04:00

i've been 'pinning' pretty little things over at Pinterest for some time now and it's such an inspiring part of my daily life. i'm not quite sure why i've never mentioned it here.

(image source: Art Made with Heart)

i'm here to tell you....if you've never heard of Pinterest, you must check it out, like ASAP! for reals.

confused?

think of Pinterest as a virtual inspiration board where, instead of tearing pages from a session of magazine browsing and tacking them to your corkboard with a pushpin, with the click of your mouse, you categorize favorite images from your online browsing onto pinboards that you set up. there's so much inspiration, you'll never waste time looking at a paper magazine again.

it's the perfect, non-messy, storage solution for anything and everything you've ever wanted to reference back to, including: inspiring quotes, do it yourself home decor projects, recipes, inspiration for that kitchen you've always dreamed of having, etc.--all kept nice and neat in one little spot.

not only can you pin what you see out and about on the web, you can also follow other people's pinboards who have a similar style to your own.

some people think it's a huge time-suck, but for me, it's a major creativity booster. i fell head over heels in loooooooove with Pinterest and my life will never be the same!

i currently spend about 10 minutes (or less) a day pinning to my boards. i have 22 different inspiration boards on my account with over 1,000 pins. and i can't tell you how much this has saved my sanity.

not only does it save the image to your pinboard, it also let's you see other images from the same website AND it keeps track of where the image came from with a clickable link right with the pinned image. oftentimes images link back to DIY tutorials, information on where to buy a product, etc.

my family's favorite find so far from Pinterest is these yummy homemade pretzel bites. the entire batch gets devoured in no time flat!

have i mentioned that Pinterest is totally AWESOME? like, totallllllllllly. :)

i most frequently pin to my boards labeled: color love, lovely words, home sweet home, kidART, see it make it, & scrapcrush.

some of my other board i've named are: garden, on the wall, i want her hair, cel-e-brate good times, party grub.

so, hey....if you're already on Pinterest, come follow me.

if not, have i convinced you that you need to get your own Pinterest account yet!? if so, i have 4 invites that will get you pinning on your own pinboards, right quick.

who wants 'em?

my [ornery] brown-eyed girl....

2011-08-17T10:18:00.004-04:00

....er, um, [spider]girl.

while waiting for our order at Dairy Queen while on vacation in myrtle beach, i said..."hey spidergirl, pretend you're in a photobooth. ready? set. go!"

gosh, i love this girl!

in other randomness....

today we'll go to the second of three doctor appointments this week. ugh.
tonight i'll be working late into the night to meet some deadlines.
someday soon i'll wrap up my week in the life photos---documenting friday, saturday, sunday (gosh, that seems so long ago)
someday soon-later (spidergirl lingo) i'll start sharing vacation pictures/stories.
school starts in 5 days. *insert eyes bugging out*
i still haven't purchased school supplies......but they will be well-outfitted. we've got that part under control.
yeah, so, that's about it. pretty boring around here.

actually, not boring, so much as i'm just feeling rather introverted lately, could you tell? ebb and flow. ebb and flow. just waiting for things to flow a little more than ebb, i suppose.

all good things must come to an end....

2011-08-12T07:08:00.001-04:00

did i mention we were spending a week in Myrtle Beach for a much needed, long awaited, vacation? and did i mention that it's the first vacation we've taken in 6 years?

no?

well...darnit. i knew i was forgetting something.

hey ya'll, we went on vacation. LOL. :)

but all good things must come to an end. today we're heading back home, happy and healthy, where it'll undoubtedly take me the next 2 weeks to sort through the 1700 photos i've taken here.

i can't wait to share. :)

now i'm off to see what kind of celebrating i can do with this husband of mine----today we're celebrating 16 years of this thing we like to call 'happily ever after'. :) go us!

might just have to map out a cupcake shop along our route home.

Week In The Life 2011: Thursday

2011-08-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

these were all taken last thursday. sheesh, that seems so incredibly long ago. it's usually on thursday of every week in the life series i've done that i decided i've captured enough. but ironically, it turns out i have more photos from this day than any other. funny how that works.

...noticing::
hat skipping my evening dose of pain medicine just because i feel good is not a great idea. definitely not a good idea to skip several days in a row. :(

...loving::
how pleasant spidergirl is when she wakes in the morning and how adorable she looks, even with bedhead. :)

...hating::
waking up three hours before my alarm, completely nauseated from the sheer amount of pain i was in. a warm shower, two hours on the heating pad, and sitting through an episode of The Glee Project while snuggling spidergirl (and her ginormous puppy) was enough to get me functioning again.

...laughing::
at ashlyn's self-chosen chores. "don't whine" cracks me up. i've pretty much decided that it's impossible for her to do.

...practicing::
spidergirl is content with the littlest things. i was getting her morning medicine ready and turned around to find her attempting to stack these rings in under a minute a la the game show called 'Minute to Win It'.

...dreading::
the morning hairbrushing. did you see that bedhead!?!? it's double the fun when there is a sensory defensive child involved. chlorine from their two-day-a-week swimming adventures does nothing good for their hair. sometime soon i'll do a seperate post on summer haircare for the kids--it's a question i get asked often.

...collecting::
random markers throughout the house. if there's one thing that ashlyn is addicted to, it's buying markers. they are never fresh enough for her unless they are brand new. without a doubt, 2/3rds of these markers could be pitched. someday.

...awaiting::
new artwork from the kids to hang in (more) frames that never stay straight. LOL. kidART makes me ridiculously happy and i think it deserves to be framed. it's important to me to put their artwork on display.

...smiling::
every time i walk by my newly acquired spiderplant, that has yet to be potted. i got it at a garage sale for $1 because it reminds me of one we had hanging in the kitchen in my childhood home.

...wishing::
that i had a cleaning fairy that went around behind me cleaning up my snail trail. as of late it's been bad. especially the passenger's seat and floor of my car. it pretty much always has a pile of paperwork needing my attention, bank errands needing run, etc. maybe i just need to start carrying a shoulder bag or a purse. ha.

...eating::
chipotle chips & guacamole with a side of rice. yummo. that makes mexican twice this week.

...trying::
really hard, trying to find new frames. mine snapped at the bridge and eyewire on july 4th and i've already made 3 other attempts to find something i liked. apparently, i'm quite particular about how my glasses look. i was determined not to leave until i had something ordered this time. and i'm thrilled to say it was a successful trip.

...purchasing::
my weekly stop for prescriptions from walgreens only cost me $59. gah.

...rushing::
home from work and straight to a pep rally for the house they are building locally on an episode of Extreme Home Makeover.

...celebrating::with our friend oliver because he landed himself a design gig/art installation in two of the kids' rooms in said house on Extreme Home Makeover. taping of the episode is next week, but it will air in December.

...adoring::
spidergirl pretty much adores everyone. i love that she spreads joy the way she does. i also love that she still can't say oliver, but instead says oviler. it's so cute, i hope she never gets it right.

...eating::
yep, you guessed it. mexican. again. third time this week. heh.

...observing::
the way ashlyn builds a fajita. she has a very methodical way of doing so. she spreads sourcream super thin on the whole tortilla with her finger---don't even suggest she use a knife. then she tears her meat into pieces and places them all over the whole thing, and sprinkles the smallest of small amount of shredded cheese & rice over the whole thing. she's done this for as long as i can remember.

Week In The Life 2011: Wednesday

2011-08-02T16:13:00.000-04:00

...noticing::
i need that "keep calm & carry on" reminder more today than any other day. the clutter left behind from 2 months solid of me running to and from doctors appointments and working part-time outside the home and full-time on freelance work from home is wearing on me. i don't do clutter well. but i'm thankful for a cheerful reminder that greets me every morning.

...enjoying::
several emails back and forth with my sweet friend sherry. we email often every afternoon, but it's a delightful treat to have a spare moment in the morning to chat with her.

...wishing::
that i could rip up all the carpet through the whole house and install hardwood floors, everywhere. oh how i hate carpet----especially this carpet. it's so dark and depressing. it hasn't been in our budget to do anything about it---and it was brand new when we moved in. it's perfect and super durable for raising kids though. *sigh*

...anticipating::
moving a vintage couch, purchased at a church rummage sale earlier in the summer, from the garage into the livingroom. it's SO perfectly me and reminds me of visits to my grandma rose's house as a child. it just needs a little steam clean first, then i can chuck that nasty recliner. :)

...washing::
mounds and mounds of clothes. i'm convinced it multiplies overnight. this was my first morning home in about 2 months. i liked revisiting a familiar morning routine.

...avoiding::
cleaning the disaster that is my studio. i honestly don't even know where to begin. as you can see, it's beyond a mess.

...wondering::
how long before this rheumatoid flare goes into remission and i can put away this handicap sticker. i don't use it often, but there are days where i wouldn't venture out if i didn't have it.

...feeling::
major pain on the whole right side of my head. i'm sure it has more to do with being without my glasses than anything else.

...promising::
myself, that tomorrow i'll make time to pick out new frames.

...sampling::
the pineapple mango smoothie from mcdonald's.....it's delish.

...walking::
through the entire church, down the long hallway to the activity center to pick up the girls from daycare. i'm usually the one dropping them off, not picking them up, but doug had a meeting tonight.

...looking::
at a myrtle beach coupon book turned to a page ashlyn is jumping out of her skin about while sitting at a stoplight. they are beyond excited to be going on vacation.

...gathering::
rounding up coupons to hand off to a friend who is treating them for a night of roller skating.

...celebrating::
doug at a meeting + the girls rollerskating = a whole night to myself! awesomesauce. these nights are very rare.

...eating::
chef salad with suzi.

...folding::
gobs and gobs of laundry with suzi.

...watching::
beastly with suzi.

...loving::
that i have a friend who will help me tackle laundry, like suzi. :)

...thinking::
that it's time to update the photo wall (how many times have i said that here on the blog??) and figure out a way to keep the frames from going crooked. my kids (& husband) are way too rambunctious for perfectly straight wall frames.

...giggling::
at spidergirl's sleep mask. simple irresistible.

...bumming::
about the attitude i'm going to deal with in the morning when spidergirl has to brush through tangles of hair because she fell asleep on the couch after her bath--and before brushing her hair. :(