Up close and personal

with their favorite toys right now.  ;)

Look for these photos on upcoming layouts.  Can you believe tomorrow is February already?

How about some February sneaks?

Up until I picked up another(!!) fabulous cold from the chicklets, I was seriously cranking out layouts in my scrap area.  I've been working the Bigger than a Breadbox kit for February, and I'm loving it.  I wasn't "sold" on the Basic Grey Sugar Rush papers until I saw them in person.  Let's just say I've changed my mind.  I only have a few scraps left to create some cards or tags with.  How about a couple sneaks?

I even used my typewriter on this one!

I used Microbeads (Martha Stewart) to cover the chipboard heart. Messy, but great texture.

And from the MME papers....

I'm determined to use every inch of that trim. Love it.

You can see the kits here.  Both kits and the card kit are up and if you want to get your hands on one, sign up for autoship. 

Other than that, it's a busy weekend, I think the work week was actually slower!   If I finish up the layouts, I'll post up more sneaks.

Have a good night.

How about some quick birthday pictures?

Amazingly enough, I only have a few from Saturday that I really love.

What is up with that look?  LOL

It's been awhile!

I was blogging so regularly, then life got in the way again.  In a good way.  Keeping busy with the girls (we finally celebrated Alexa's birthday with the family), scrapbooking and just relaxing.  I did get to meet an online friend yesterday.  I met up with Jenn from AMM at Archivers for a crop.  Had a great time!  It's fun to scrap with someone else especially when I normally scrap by myself after the chicklets are in bed. 

Today I received my Apron Strings February Kit.  I'm working with the "bigger" kit for next month and the Basic Grey Sugar Rush  and My Minds Eye Life Stories (kraft!!) are fab.  Lori has some great embellishments in the kits as well!  After this post I'm heading down to my scrap area to push some paper around.

I'll be back soon with some birthday party pictures.

Project 12 - 2009 and 2010

Can it be true?  An album that is finally completed?  Yep.  Tonight I finished up the last of my 2009 Project 12 layouts.  A couple things I've learned - first, while 8x8 layouts are fun for something different, they are difficult to print photos for.  Second, I use alot of scallops.  LOL.  Third, I don't do "scattered" well.  At all.  I'm very much a linear, balanced person for two-pagers.

In the last two weeks, I finished the pages from August until December.   Not bad.  I've uploaded September through December.  Apparently, I didn't take a picture of August.  Oops.

For 2010, I'm going to use 12x12 pages again. I already have an extra album I can slip each layout into.  Again, for Davinies challenge, I created my cover page.  At first I was going to use some Basic Grey Nook and Pantry and then I saw their Origins line.  Love!  I did have some self control and only bought a few sheets (even though I wanted it all) and made myself use it.   Here's my cover for this year's album:

I ended up using some Thickers and some chipboard parenthesis inked with Distress Ink (Weathered Wood) and painted with Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

I can't wait to get started on this years Project 12.  January should be a good picture month, the girls have been really into dressing up like princesses lately and we're celebrating Alexa's birthday this Saturday. 

Next on the project list - finish up my December Daily (finally received my pictures from WinkFlash) and do Alexa's "6" album.  Every birthday, starting at age 4, I've asked her a series of 10 questions about her likes and dislikes.  It's interesting to see what stays the same (Favorite foods: pizza and hot dogs, again) and what changes. 

Alright, I'm outta here.  I need to hit the hay earlier than last night. 

Words that make your heart melt.

"Mama, I gonna give you kiss.  That make you happy."
-Ava, age 3, Saturday January 9th.

Yep, it sure did. 

A quick layout, some good news and a few photos.

I guess that would some up this post.  :)  Tonight I put together a quick layout using an Apron Strings kit from November.  (Maybe I'll get my December layouts up soon!)  Full of October Afternoon paper, Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons and gingham rick rack.  I added some Thickers and letter stickers from my stash.  Used a sketch from Page Maps. 

This picture is so Alexa.  LOL 

The other night, we hand an impromptu photo shoot (which seems to happen alot around here) the girls had wanted to wear princess dresses.  Ava is currently OBSESSED with Cinderella, and wears this dress every. stinkin. day.

Any clue where they were sitting?  Our bathroom floor! 

And finally, I was asked to return to the Apron Strings Design team for another year.  Thank you Lori for the opportunity to work with the rest of the design team and the fabulous kits again. 

Gah.

Back to work and school tomorrow.  Back to the routine, to homework, to earlier bedtimes and much earlier rising out of bed.  While it will be nice in a way to get the girls back on a normal schedule, I will miss them.  These days off went by much to fast.  *sigh*  Only 2 weeks until another long weekend.  Already looking forward to it.

01/01/10

I wonder how many times I will write the wrong year on my checks this month?  It's going to take some time to get used to 2010.  After posting my favorite projects from 2009, I thought I'd post my 12 favorite photos from last year. I may use these photos for a layout in the future...

I could have picked 12 photos from December alone!  Most of those pictures haven't even been edited, or don't have the best lighting, but they make me smile.

I've decided to pick a word for this year.  "Progress."  I want 2010 to be a year of progress, at home, at work, I want to look back this time next year, and say that I "learned/improved/changed..." some things for the better this year.  Get things accomplished that I've (we've) let slide by.