dream big.

who knew?

Camels. Who would have thought you could ride them, but last year the zoo we go to started giving camel rides. And my kids started begging...Mom, can we ride. My reply comes automatically...no.

Please, Mom. I say to them, Well they are kind of cute. They replay back to me and we won't ask you for anything else all day! Bingo, that form of manipulation will work on me every time!

So, I give in pony up the the $15 for all three of my rug rats to ride the camel. and well. they did look pretty adorable. When they got off the camel, I told them once a year we will ride the camels, but not every time we come.

We have passes and go often and I love my kids, but I am also a fiscally sound parent and $15 everytime I go to the zoo, would bust my budget.

And thankfully, my kiddos were fine with that. It's a new year...time to go and ride the camels!

 

organization

I went into the pit of despair - thanks Princess Bride for the great location - and made it through the other side. First, just so you understand this room is where EVERYTHING ended up during our remodel...and well, there really is no other excuse for the absolute chaos it was in. Although I could blame it on my dear friend who convinced me I couldn't live without the table that I wanted to get rid of...and I am sticking to the story that it is that table that kept me from moving forward!

I know it is hard to even see the table due to all of the stuff, but if you look close you will see it is there!

Now here is what it looks like! HOORAY for IKEA! HOORAY for ORGANIZATION!

Now IKEA did not have the other bookshelf in stock that I need to put at the end this bookshelf...so more photos to come once it has arrived!

Oh and this is und ther countertop! Yeah! And yes everything is labeled and that my friends makes me HAPPY!
  

 
And here is a little something I have put together using more of the felt flowers I made!

My everything nice girl, with her best buddy. They are so sweet together.

 I'm ready for some summer...and thankful for the blue skies today!

 

 

Ideas for adding more photos to a single page

One of my most favorite things to do on a single page is to create a way for more photos to be on a page than would normally fit. So, on this page that tells the story of how Olivia won first place at the Spring Fair for her pencil art drawing...yes, I am a bit proud here...I created a mini flip book to attach to this page.

This mini book consists of three pages...and can be flipped easily with tabs along the side of each page.

I added brief subtitles to each photo within the book.

And journaling to the back side of each photo page.

This allows me to enlarge an important photo, reduce the size of photos that help tell the story, and use standard 4X6 photos within the book.

 
When I place the page in a page protector, I use an exacto knife and cut a hole in the protector so that the pages can be flipped through and enjoyed while still protecting the page.

I simply love the end result.

Pure Cuteness and News

 
I have been creating pages and loving life this past week. So much fun.

Look at how cute this girl is! Simply melts my ice cream sundae of a heart!

I loved to look back and recall what she likes as a six year old and what she felt was important at this age. Can you see the tears streaming down my face right now?

Six was such a sweet age...seven is off to a great start as well!

Other news for the day is that my class Saving Your Sanity Celebrations began today at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I love the community on the boards at BPS and am excited to have the first workshop in my Saving Your Sanity Series underway! There is still a week to register, so if you haven't done so yet I encourage you to join in the fun of celebrating!

Making to do lists this day! Racing Ella to dance, visiting the library, visiting my library of photos, scanning, uploading, finishing a page.
Love days where lots gets accomplished. I will be uploading a couple of pages later today. Yeah!

inspired again

I love the colors in this bag! I love the bag...so bright and fun!

This would be a great home for quotes and sayings...plus it would be super cute in my studio!

I love this for my purse...with a four year old it is perfect!

How sweet is this hairband...can you tell I have girls?! 

These tags are fun too..perfect for travel pages.

Totally inspired...off to make something!

Inspiring Celebrations!

As I was thinking about upcoming celebrations and looking for some inspiration I came across this print your own message in a cookie cutter from Williams-Sonoma. I had to share this as I think it is perfect for creating cookies that say thank you and placing them in a goodie-bag, and handing them out as party favors at a birthday party!

Plus, the fact that it reminds me of a scrapbooking tool, but for cookies ... simply makes me smile! Two of my favorite things...cookies and scrapbooking! Totally need one of these!

And then I found these for easter!

Oh, my creative little heart is ready to fill baskets with homemade deliciousness!

So the word cutters are out of stock...bummer, but I am still all over these easter cookies!
 

Running to the doctor with one horribly sick kid today! Hoping no one else in family catches her bug!
I'm focusing on taking care of little miss sicko today. I'll be back tomorrow.

Big Picture Scrapbooking is giving away two spots in my upcoming workshop Saving Your Sanity: Celebrations! You could be a winner, by going to the BPS blog and and leaving a comment about a celebration that you attended or hosted that didn't go off as planned!

This will be fun! Good luck everyone!

product review

 
I just recently picked up the Martha Stewart scoring board and her fringe scissors. First, you must understand that I have not purchased a new tool outside of a fiskars border punch in years...so the idea of me purchasing tools is kind of crazy, but I must say I LIKE both of these products and would put them on my list of tools that are nice to have...not necessary, but oh so very nice!

The scissors are just plain fun and create tiny little fringe cuts quickly. I am working on an embellishment with these at the moment and will post it later this week for you to see!

The scoring board is FANTASTIC! It allows you to score perfectly straight lines onto your paper projects in a snap, and you can score every 1/8 inch! Amazing. Plus it houses the bone folder and a triangle guide to easily create envelopes, and of course the envelople sizes and scoring measurements are printed on the tool as an easy guide...inside the box where the bone folder is held are measurements for card sizes and where to score them.

I make more projects than cards, and have found that I use this tool a lot! It is so nice to know I will now have straight, even, beautiful folds on my projects. If you get a chance to play with this product do, and if you have thought about making this purchase, I will not be the one to stop you!