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 :)

tuesday . . .

Alrighty - sketches galore everyone!!!!

Earlier this summer I was asked by Cheri of Let's Scrap if I might share a sketch for their September challenge. She's an absolute sweetheart & many of my past members of 52 Sketches 52 Weeks participate in her site so I am always happy to create a sketch for them :) Here's what I came up with (yes - a 2 pager!!) . . .

Head over to Let's Scrap to find out all the details of the challenge & info on the great prize being given away :)

My monthly sketch for SEI is up as well - check out this month's sketch . . .

Here is what I came up with using the new SEI Holiday Cheer line . . .

Love these adorable die-cut trees and the cute snow globes in this line . . .

Check out all the details HERE :)

My final sketch share is for an online store called Cord Camera & Scrapbook Studio. They, in conjunction with Jillibean Soup, are running a challenge on the Cord Scrapbook Studio Blog this week. All you need to do is break out your JB stash & create a layout using this sketch . . .

Here's what I came up with using some Christmas Eve Chowder goodies . . .

And a quick close-up of these JB chipboard and sticker alphas - love 'em!!!

Make sure to upload YOUR layout to the Cord Camera Facebook page for a chance at winning an AMAZING fat pack (one of each of the new Jillibean Soup papers) - WOWZERS - how awesome is that???

Enjoy the sketches & be back soon to share pics of Ryan's first day of school tomorrow :)

ttyl - julie :)

thursday . . .

From freya-art.com

Have I mentioned I LOVE Pinterest??? This quote is definitely ending up on a layout soon - the longest title ever for sure - but worth it - so sweet :) Speaking of "new to the world" . . . Nicholas is growing, growing, growing - check out this 7 1/2 month old . . .

Oh the hair - his crazy, adorable hair . . .

And two little teeth coming in :)

And the pouty faces . . .

Just can't get enough of this little sweetheart :) And my other sweetheart . . . growing up too fast - wanting so much to be a "big boy" or "man" as he likes to say . . .

And in LOVE with superheroes - I mean seriously - obsessed . . . here's the Spiderman dance in action . . .

And just to show you how fast in all goes . . . from just a wee little one to Mr. All Grown Up . . check this out . . .

It both warms & breaks my heart to see this - I can't believe this was just 2 years ago :(

Anyone seeing signs of fall in your neck of the woods???? We've had some visitors :)

Looking for some Fall inspiration/ideas???? Check out my Pinterest board HERE - can't wait to try some of these :)

Haven't been doing as much scrapping as I'd like to recently - life has just been so busy . . . hoping some more time will free up when Ryan is back in school & we are all back into some sort of regular routine. I do have my Jillibean Soup projects from last month to share - seriously some of my favorites to date :) The first 3 traveled to CHA . . the layout was something I created inspired by this layout of Davinie Fiero.

This paper-folded design was so much fun & in person added such a cool dimension to the layout - I definitely recommend trying this one out :)

And tags of course - these are NEW products by JB Soup - the kraft tags come in 3 sizes & they are awesome!! I stitched like a crazy women in this layout & yes - even on these little tags :)

A few cards featuring the Homemade 6 Bean Soup as well . . .

And finally a layout just shared today on the blog for Maya Road week - this one a fun mix of JB Soup & Maya Road goodies!!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those Maya Road wooden buttons!!

See that JB Soup kraft folder peeking out :) And of course, all the fun JB Soup stickers & die-cuts, can't layer up enough of them :)

Has anyone noticed there has been a ridiculous amount of Manufacturer DT calls this summer - I have & I have been so very tempted to try out. But I didn't apply - not for one - I mean I wanted to - don't get me wrong - but there are also so many other things I want to do & try - some scrappy, some not. So I decided to see what I might experience/accomplish/try if I didn't have so many deadlines . . .

First up . . . figure out my camera - it is sinful really - I have had this great camera for almost 2 years now & am barely out of auto :( So I signed up for this which starts in just a few days . . .

SUPER EXCITED!!!!

Oh and later this month . . . venturing into the blog design world a bit with a blog design class here . . .

I'll keep you posted :)

Hope you are all doing well & be back soon - promise :)

ttyl - julie :)

wednesday . . .

I've been hinting at an upcoming guest design spot & am finally able to spill the beans today!!!! A little while back I commented on a FB call for guest designers for American Crafts & I was super excited to get an email asking me to design - yay!!!! I have been a HUGE fan of American Crafts products since I started scrapbooking, not to mention my stash of Thickers is growing at an exponential rate - hah!!! The theme I was asked to scrap around was "round" - here are the "round" projects I came up with :)

Be sure to head on over to the American Crafts blog for details on the projects :) Be back soon!!!

ttyl - julie :)