Merry Christmas

 

Christmas Morning was such a joy! We had Grandma and Grandpa here and the kids had fun opening gifts and being spoiled! The favorite gifts were a set of nerf guns we gave Braxton and Bree....I think we should have gotten ones for everyone as they were so much fun!! Ah to be a kid again!!

DT Reveal for Cookin Up Creations

I was so pleased with my layout this week that I wanted to share it here too!


I used SEI Moonrise Papers and gleaming pearls die-cut embellishments. The Moonrise Papers I used were Moss (textured cardstock), Stillness(gold foil) and Composure(pearl foil). I loved both sides so they are all on there!! I also wanted a natural feel to the layout, so I used a piece of burlap, a piece of natural ribbon and some flowers I crocheted with packing twine.

The end of November

We don't really get seasons here....but the last few nights have been pretty chilly and we have had beautiful fires in the fireplace! There are a few trees that change colors so I took Izzy out to take some photos.


And of course one in the tree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a beautiful day here in Southern California. The sun is shining and we are all stuffed from our Turkey Dinner. The kids and I did a little yardwork to work off a bit of the candied sweet potates and now it is time to do a little relaxing!!

Have a wonderful time with your families and friends!

LRS Giveaway at CUC!

Is that enough acronyms for you?

I am happy to be hosting a giveaway on the Cookin Up Creations blog that was provided by my friends over at Little Red Scrapbook They have generously provided CUC with a beautiful mini-kit featuring products from American Crafts, Cosmo Cricket plus lots, lots more! LRS is a monthly kit club that offers beautiful kits at a great price!


Check out the CUC blog for more details and your chance to win!

Had to redo this one!

When I received my product for this week's reveal at CUC, I knew I had to redo an old layout I had of Juliet at the beach. She had to taste the sand and apparently she didn't like it! The clear topper title and the beach edger are from Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs. They have lots of neat paper products and some amazing acrylic albums too!

Look at this kit!

Tammy over at Cookin Up Creations has put together a cute little mini album kit and class for this November. Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs album and Basic Grey Pyrus papers, twines, transparencies, ribbons, die cuts, tags, gems, and more are all mixed in to create this fun fall mini!

Here's a sampling of what is included in the kit....not all items are shown Kit includes:


Midnight Oil Cover Album - Basic Grey Pre-cut Pyrus Papers - Pre-Cut Card Stock - Pre-Stamped Title Page - 8 Journaling Cards
16 Die Cuts - 10 Photo Mats - Buttons - Gems - Hardware for Hanging Tags--Jump Rings & Eyelets - Pre-stamped Transparency - Materials to Create Pumpkins-- Paper, Wire, Pattern - Grunge Paper Words & Year (2010) - Grunge Paper Flowers - Materials to Create Pocket Page for Month Cards - 4 Ribbons - 1 Leaf Ribbon - 2 Twines--Natural & Brown - Vintage Baker's Twine - 2 Pins - Bread Tag - Pop Dots - Coin Envelope - Class Tutorial and Instructions and more!


Items not included that you will need...Adhesives, Scissor, Ruler, Needle or Paper Piercer, Eyelet Setter OPTIONAL...Pyrus Distress Ink, Glossy Accents


And here is the best part....The kit and class only costs $15.50 including shipping! Hurry on over to Here to get more information and order your own kit! Supplies are limited

Judy's Dress

I was completing some challenges over at CUC when I came across this photo of Juliet in my mom's formal. We had dug out the old dresses one day and the girls had put them on. These papers from Prima were perfect for the layout.
 

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that October is almost over!!! It has been a busy month with school, soccer, and driving all the kids around. I have also been busy with design team projects for CUC! Here is my reveal for last week:

 

I am loving making these huge homemade flowers. All you do is cut out various sizes of the same flower(the Cricut works perfect for this) and then roll and ink the edges. So easy and so fun to make!

Being Sneaky!

Here is a sneak peek of a project I made for the Monday reveal at CUC. We have products from Punky Sprouts, Whisker Graphics Divine Twine and Unity Stamps!

Join us Saturday October 2nd, 2010 as we kick off the holiday card making season and participate in World Card Making Day 2010 at Cookin Up Creations. It'll be a fun day of challenges, games, and prizes. So mark your calendars now and plan to join us that day.

Prizes include items from SRM Press, My Sentiment's Exactly, and Paper Crafts magazine's Go-to Sketches.

Izzy's Present

Izzy is turning 13 this weekend and we are planning all sorts of festivities. I wanted to get a jump on her presents so I used a DT assignment over at CUC to create a neat little corkboard for her room. I pulled out my Cricut and cut all sorts of flowers from the Reminisce Glitter Factory paper we were provided. Love how the whole thing sparkles!

What's New Wednesday

Today was my day to post the Blue Plate Special at Cookin Up Creations. Today is What's New Wednesday so I chose highlight butterflies. It seems like all the scrapbooking companies are coming out with butterfly items! I love the jenni bowlin butterflies with the great pattern combinations and a little bling too!



Some Making Memories butterfly ribbon and Pink Paislee's 365 collection made a great combination for this layout.

Friday Focus Challenge

Today was my day to post the Friday Focus Challenge over at Cookin' Up Creations. I love buttons so that is my focus today...to do a layout with buttons! I love the Basic Grey button combinations..but any buttons will do.



We are also working with the theme of transition and what shows this more than how grown up my little girls are!!

DT Reveals at Cookin' Up Creations

Today is the first set of reveals from the new design team over at Cookin' Up Creations. This month we were given beautiful papers from Remininsce and tags from twogirlzstuff etsy store. This week was my week to do cards. I had a lot of fun using the Remininsce Wild Collection to make a fun thank you card.

The inside reads...." a whole bunch!!" Pretty clever I thought...maybe not original but it sure worked with this paper!!
The Graduation Collection had a great word sticker sheet that made making this card so easy!


I also thought that this line would work great with New Years Pictures too! Lots of black and silver to accent those festivities.


We will be doing reveals each week so come on over and see what else everyone has to show!

What an exciting Weekend!

In addition to watching some great soccer as Juliet's team won both their Sat and Sun games, a successful school supplies shopping trip and a Friday night cookout with the neighbors, I also spent time participating in the Cookin' Up Creations Cybercrop. There were lots of fun challenges and I got quite a few layouts done.

I also found out that I was voted the best layout for the August Challenge! This really means a lot to me that others enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed making it.

Rootin Tootin Good Time

Everyone come join me for.....




Come participate in the Cookin' up Creation's cyber crop during the weekend of August the 27th-29th. There will be lots of scrapping, lots of games & challenges, and tons of prizes!! Mark your calendars and plan to join us, as it'll be a rip roarin', boot stompin' good time.....Yee Haw!

Gee...I haven't talked like that since I moved from Texas!!!

Whooo Hoooooo!!

I am so happy to announce that I have been selected to be on the Design Team over at Cookin' up Creations! It is a great site with lots of fun challenges and lots of friendly people. Come on over and take a look...

So excited.....

I have some news...but I can't share yet! Soon Soon Soon!

Vintage Style

 

The girls decided to go through my old dresses in the attic. Yes, I actually wore these when I was in college. I can't tell you how many times the girls said "Mom, I can't believe you were this tiny" Hmmmmmmm. They were pretty cute though!

and this last one was actually my mother's formal dress that she used to wear to Publishing conventions.

As Seen on TV

 

You know those adds for products on TV that always make you say "does that really work?" Well we tried the strawberry growing thing...and even though it really is pretty ugly, it really does work! Izzy was so proud of her strawberries...and would check on them each morning.

Fun with Picassa

 

Just a few seconds of editing and ended up with a really fun pic of the girls!

Myrtle Beach

 

We had a lovely week in Myrtle Beach with the Luty Clan. We spent our time playing on the beach and in the pool and playing lots of cards.

Final Project

Juliet had a final project in her fashion merchandising class which required her to make a dress out of plain muslin. They were allowed to color it and sew or glue it into any stlye they wanted. She dyed her fabric using tempra paint and made all the rosettes around the collar. We decided that it would look much better on a person than the manequin, so we had Izzy put it on.

 

Izzy made a beautiful model!

Just for Fun!

 

Izzy and I took some flowers in the yard and then added glitter glue to them. It made a really neat effect so I thought I would share.

Our little doves...

 

Not sure when they hatched, but I know there is at least one very hungry baby! It is hard to tell whether there are two or just one but this pic is of Daddy feeding the chick. Apparently both the mom and dad feed the baby a milky substance that they produce in their crops. Daddy really doesn't like it when I get near the window so I am giving him a little bit of space. Hopefully as the chick(s?) get bigger, they will be easier to see.

Love my new camera!!

 

I am learning how to use my new camera today. I was taking pics of the flowers when I discovered what had been munching on them...baby grasshoppers!! Hopefully they hop away before eating too many of my lovely blooms!

Happy Mother's Day

My girls made me an "edible arrangement" for mother's day! They cut the fruit and dipped it in chocolate! How sweet!

Doves

 

There have been a pair of doves feeding in our yard for some time now. Last weekend I noticed they seemed to be looking for a nest..landing in the hanging baskets on the patio.....Well, on Monday they picked the one right by my kitchen window to build their nest. There was one egg on Thursday and today when she left the nest, there was a second one. I have done some research now and we have 12/14 days to wait for the babies. I need to get more pics of the parents so I can figure out who is who...they take turns sitting on the nest and taking care of the hatchlings when they arrive.

American Idol

Juliet and I had a great time at idol. They put us in the "mosh pit" at the edge of the stage. within touching reach of the judges when they walked by and Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas stood by us for awhile.....can I say that Cameron is so beautiful IRL......wow!!! We then got moved into some seats behind the judges...then back to the pit for awhile when the bottom 3 were announced and then up to some seats....we were so close for everything, never higher than second row...really a lot of fun!!! If the full sized video doesn't show up, double click on it and it should open in Youtube....(we are on from 1:23 through 1:50...Juliet is just behind Randy)


Oh...and they prefilmed Lady Gaga...she was amazing...even if you don't like her style...the number was pretty neat with an interesting set ... she looked great and lots of cute male dancers. She was not a diva at all...talked to everyone on stage nicely (it seemed) and talked to the audience, etc....it will be on in 2 weeks...the set was so big it took a long time to set up.

BIg GIrl

 

Izzy got her first real "grown-up" haircut today. We had them style it for her so that she could see what it looked like straightened too.

Sisters

We are on Spring Break this week and the girls were looking for something to do. We decided to go on a photo shoot. We got some really nice pics of the girls together and lots of individuals. Plus a lot of "just for fun" shots....top model style.