tuesday . . .

Seriously - do I ever blog anymore???  Nearly a month - tsk, tsk . . . life is so full right now - so much going on and the 2 little ones needing me so very much lately :)  It is hard to find any time to myself these days - sorry all.  Here's a photo recap of the past few weeks :)


Time playing with cousins . . .





A few family self-timer shots (that's me in the grey sweater) . . .








My niece - so stinkin' cute, right??





Devilish little Nicholas . . .





Looks like someone is thinking about puckering up . . .





Cousins who LOVE spending time together . . .





We headed to the beach after the holiday & celebrated an early Christmas with our closest friends and their family.  Here's Nicholas enjoying part of his present . . .





Sleepyheads and snuggle buddies . . .





Seriously adorable - right???





Brothers finding common ground with Nicholas' racetrack . . .







The boys & some "big boy" racetrack fun . . .





Good friends . . .





Silly times . . .





As you can see we have been busy enjoying life & family & friends :)


Oh & yes, I have been scrapping too - not as much as I might like but I still have plenty to share :)


First up - A Page 4 All Seasons . . . this is my last month designing for them.  While I have enjoyed my time with them, I am keeping my commitments to a minimum these days :)  Check out the December kit - full of Echo Park holiday goodness . . .








If you are interested in purchasing these you can find all the details HERE.


LOTS of Jillibean Soup to share . . .


This layout uses much of the new Hearty Barley line . . . yes, pink on a boy layout but I don't care :)  This line is too cute!!!





Full of Jillibean greens, browns, and yellows - love this color combo . . . 





A fun holiday planner featuring the Christmas Chowder collection . . .














A cute little snowman card made out of Jillibean's new corrugated cardboard sheets - this stuff die-cuts super easy!!!





A different take on the Christmas Eve Chowder line using blues & browns & some gorgeous Petaloo flowers . . .





Oh but there is more people . . . I squeezed in some scrappy time just for me . . . had to dig into my stash of October Afternoon Sidewalk . . .



(based on a sketch by Nicole Nowosad)


And dove into a Cocoa Daisy November kit & some fun challenges during their November crop!!!





Yes, an 8 1/2 " x 11 " layout - I have begun an album for myself & had so much fun with this size layout :)





Off to work on my list of to-dos that is like a mile long :)  Hope all is well out there!!!


- julie :)

tuesday . . .

If I had influence with the good fairy,
I would ask that her gift to each child
be a sense of wonder so indestructible
that it would last throughout life.


-Rachel Carlson





So I love quotes, I mean L-O-V-E them - and finding just the right one when you need it is just the best ever.  I ventured into this little store the other day called The Paper Source.  It is like an adorable little paper boutique (although it is a chain), with stationary, cards, calendars, & crafting supplies.  Don't get me wrong, I love my local scrapbook store & the online stores I frequent - but this was a totally different experience :)  I found a few things but what I was most excited about was a book of quotes called Love Life.  I highly recommend it for yourself or for a gift :)  


I have been working very hard at getting my scrapbook from reorganized.  It really had become quite a disaster & it was impossible to find anything.  I still have a few more things to put away & I need to label all my drawers so in a few weeks I'll have lots of pics to share & some organizational ideas :)  While cleaning I realized I never shared my last assignments for SEI - oops!!!  So here they are . . .


First up, a fall layout featuring their Homestead collection.  Love the rich autumn colors in this line & such gorgeous patterns!!!





Check out these awesome die-cut leaves - I stitched over the embossed veins to add some fun texture to the layout :)





I also used this versatile collection along with last year's Spooks collection to create this fun Halloween layout . . .





The scallops peeking out are actually border strips from the Spooks line :)





And how cute are those pumpkins???  The Spooks collection is actually on sale for 30% at the Sei store - check it out HERE.





My final layout features the gorgeous Silver Lake collection.  I loved the mix of greys, maroon, and kraft together :)  (That's my younger brother with Ryan!!!)





Check out these cute vintage style die-cuts from the collection . . . 





I had these Maya Road wood snowflakes just itching to be put on a layout.  The chipboard circles were cut from a Sizzix die & backed with an assortment of SEI patterned paper.





Oh & my sketch for October . . . simple in design but great to showcase a 4 x 6 or even 5 x 7 photo :)





Thanks so much for reading!!!


ttyl - julie :)

friday . . .

All I can say is sick, sick, sick . . . first it began with Nicholas, then Ryan, then Justin, then Ryan got better, then Nicholas got worse (double ear infection), then Justin got better, then mommy got sick :(  Everyone is better but mommy :(  I am tired, exhausted, but surviving.  Unfortunately Justin just had surgery (nothing serious) but he is unable to lift anything & is pretty much bedridden right now so he can't really help with the kiddos so no sick day(s) for mommy.  Just plugging through the runny nose, coughs, sore throat.  I have a mess of pics to share from the past few weeks - unfortunately I really struggled with my Halloween pics.  I just couldn't get any night shots - so many blurry pics.  Even though I took the class last month, I really need to review through everything & take some serious time to practice - oh to find the time . . . anyways - captions are below pics - enjoy :)





It looks like a crawl . . . just kidding Nicholas is still doing the army crawl - this is just for show :)





Yes, we are in the upright position - only on knees though :)





Side by side, my two little men :)





Seriously - could you ever resist this face :)





Spooky cookie graveyard making & spooky faces :)





Snow in October - say what???





First time exploring the inside of a pumpkin :)  And yes, he tried really hard to eat the seeds but mommy said no :)





Our pumpkin collection - I did the "Boo" one :)





Pre-trick-or-treating snuggles :)





Nicholas investigating his cousin :)





Is it bedtime yet???





Batman - ready for action :)





The only decent pic of my "little bat" - the quality, not so good, cuteness factor, fabulous :)





In all fairness this is not my husband's costume - it's mine :)  I stayed up until 3 am the night/morning before Halloween to make my flower costume.  A wood ring, cardboard, and some Jillibean Soup patterned paper along with a lime green sweatshirt for the stem/leaves.  I didn't get a pic of me but my husband did try it out so I snapped one of him :)





Ryan got this adorable monster hat from his Aunt & Uncle for Halloween - just had to catch some shots of him in it.  He was doing a "monster" pose, but it looks more like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever.


Now, on to the scrappy front :)  I was asked to create a sketch and sample for a special challenge over at Citrus Tree Studio.  This is my second year doing this for them  - the owner Cindy is super sweet & I was given an adorable kit full of papers & embellishments from the Three Bugs in A Rug Collection Deck the Halls to work with.  Here is the sketch I created . . .




And the layout I came up with using the fabulous November CTS kit . . . 





And a card using the kit as well . . . 





Interested in playing along????  Here are the details . . .


Contest runs from November 1st through November 30th at Midnight (Eastern).  Each participant (registered member) should create a layout and card using the contest sketch and upload both to the "Sketch Contest" area of the CTS Gallery for a chance to win the Crate Paper 12 x 12 "Peppermint" Collection.  A separate (new) set of creations may also be entered for the Sketch Contest being held on the CTS Facebook page for a chance at January 2012's guest designer spot!!


Please note:  One entry per participant for each Sketch Contest and the same creation cannot be used for both contests.


For more information head on over HERE!!!  Hope to see some of you play along!!!!


ttyl - julie :)

wednesday . . .

I put on my old royal blue one-piece and climbed into a tub of bubbles with this one . . .

why??  Fear of water, no real rhyme or reason to it - but that's kids - right?? Out of the blue - what works, just doesn't anymore.  He LOVED the tub, I mean L-O-V-E-D it, but now he will claw at me like I'm about to drop him into a pit of lava.  I've tried everything, I mean everything, but in the end sitting with mommy in the bubbles was exactly what he wanted :)

Mommyhood is consuming these days, full of good & bad & everything in between - at the end of the day I am exhausted but amidst the tiredness I feel lucky & blessed and can't imagine not having these two in my life . . . 

Don't you just want to squeeze their cheeks :)


I have lots of scrapping to share - so much in fact I will not overload you with all of it in one post.  Today - Jillibean Soup - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!!!





Little crazy with the stitching - but I love sewing . . . on paper that is :)  Oh & that brown JB button - did you know I have a slight addiction to buttons - love 'em.  I have 15 mason jars full & an entire drawer full - I may need an intervention :)










Just love how these punched leaves turned out with a bit of pen definition & of course some splatters of mist in the background :)








Now this one tugs at my heartstrings a bit - love this photo . . .








A close-up of the journaling & the quote that inspired the whole layout . . .





Here is the sketch I created based on the layout - feel free to join in this month's challenge - we'd love to have you!!!  Check out all the details HERE.





And yes - a few cards . . . they are always a challenge for me but I am really starting to enjoy creating them :)





Hope everyone is well out there & thanks so much for continuing to read my blog even though I've been such a slacker in the blogging department :)  
ttyl - julie :)

monday . . .

Seriously - bad blogger award over here - I mean nearly a month since my last post???  What have I been up to . . . well mostly taking care of these 2 :)





Oh and a bit of household reorganizing, a redesign of my scraproom (just beginning this process but super excited!!), a photography class, a web design class, and losing a bit more of this baby weight (only 12 pounds left to go - total weight loss to date, 71 pounds, yes I gained 83 pounds with this pregnancy - let's not talk about it - hah!!).  Anyways - I haven't been doing as much scrapping as I would like but I know everything will fall into place soon enough.  So excited for the chilly weather & the holidays heading this way!!!  Anyone else experiencing any chilly fall weather????


Although I have lots of past projects that I still need to share here - I thought today I'd focus on a fabulous opportunity I was given by My Little Shoebox to be there guest blogger this past Friday.  I used their adorable Playtime collection & came up with this . . .





I thought the Playtime cardstock stickers were super cute & used them to embellish both circle elements on the page.  In this close-up you can see both the sun & cloud stickers.  To add some texture, I decided to emboss the clouds using my Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots embossing folder.  By adhering the sticker to some cardstock beforehand it ran through the Cuttlebug super easy!!





Although I love pre-made embellishments, it is always fun (and economical) to create your own.  In the close-up below I took one of the elements from the Playtime Daydream paper and cut it into a ribbon pennant shape.  Then I simply added a toothpick adhered with some glue dots behind & voila - instant embellishment!!





Oh & of course, a sketch to get your creative juices flowing :)







My Little Shoebox will be running a challenge with this sketch - head HERE to find out all the details so you can play along!!!


Be back soon with more (promise not to wait a month) - hope everyone is doing well out there!!!


ttyl - julie :)