Scrappin' Saturday

Here are my pages from this week and I'm so excited to have joined another creative team. I am now creating for Darcy Baldwin who creates the most awesome fonts and also some great templates. I'm so soo sooo excited, she totally made my week!

Falling For Her by Traci Reed and Melissa Bennett

Bad Sewing Machine XXIV - Small N Round by Traci Reed
DJB Woke Up Late by Darcy Baldwin
Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn

My Way by Eva Kipler

Inspired by Sasha templates by Darcy Baldwin
DJB Coffee Shoppe Buzzed by Darcy Baldwin
Alphanator 1 by Lauren Grier
paper clipped to alphanator alpha is from Anything You Can Do by Eva Kipler

The Heart Of Home by Eva Kipler and MandaBean

DJB Woke Up Late by Darcy Baldwin
Background Stacks 2 by Jaclyn Bernardo

DJB Woke Up Late by Darcy Baldwin

TOT 8/24 template by Dana from Sweet Shoppe Designs blog
Never Forget Mini by Heather Roselli (retired)
Sleep To Dream by Lauren Grier (retired)
Sweet Nothings by Shawna Clingerman (retired)
Alphanator 1 by Lauren Grier
paper used for alphanator alpha from Sturdy Solids by Shawna Clingerman
Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn

Fix It Friday #68

It's been a long time since I've done one of these! I love editing photos and decided it would be a nice little break from cleaning house today to do a quick Fix It.

Original

and my edit using PSE6, PW's Boost action and Coffee Shoppe's Sunkissed action

Thursday's Three Rs

Well, the kids around here have started school and for 2 days Moriah has watched the school bus go by our house and I can tell she's rather jealous and wishes she could ride it. She's having a hard time with all her friends being away to school all day and she's not. Originally we were thinking the "unschooling" approach until she's a little older but now that she really really wants to "go" to school I'm wondering if maybe I need to find a small little curriculum to do with her during Isaac's nap-time. The hard thing for me is that even if we weren't going to homeschool her we can't afford pre-school so she wouldn't have gone to school anyways this year. So now the search begins for something fun and quick to do with Moriah that will satisfy this desire to "go" to school so badly. I think what it also means is that I really need to get the family room open and get a little "school" area set up down there and really make her feel like she's "going" to school and trust and believe me when I say that "Mama is your teacher". I'm actually a little excited about this because it's really giving me the motivation to get the family room open and in working order.

Anyways, if anyone has any pre-school curriculum they like let me know. I'm kind of a fan of Montessori so I may start looking there.

Work In Progress Wednesday

Well, I don't have much to report... on the nights that aren't too hot Mark will finish filling some of the cracks and he's looking forward to Labor day weekend to seal it. It's really starting to look nice and I'm so proud of him and all his hard work. I know it will be years before it's nice and smooth but it's a definitely improvement.

This weekend we are so excited to have family come visit. My parents are coming to visit with long-time friends and Mark's sister and family are coming to visit and also to help Mark tear out the deck. We're so excited to get this deck out and get the repairs on the house done that are needed from the damage the improperly installed deck did. We decided not to finish the patio because now that summer is almost over and the weather is getting more tolerable we're going to start working again on the inside of the house. We really want to be able to open up the family room again and get some painting done before the baby arrives.

Now we're off to take our daily walk/stroller ride and enjoy this beautiful cool weather. I can't wait to show you all the progress next week!

just because they're so cute

Make It Monday

Well, we were on our last summer vacation over the weekend so I wasn't able to share my layouts from last week on Saturday so hopefully this will be the last Make It Monday of scrapbook layouts and am hoping that Make It Monday will be other crafts or maybe even some hybrid scrapbooking stuff since over the weekend I ordered a new printer and am totally excited to finally have a printer where I can buy the ink everywhere instead of searching online for at least one person who has the ink I need for our old machine, lol. Over the weekend we spent a morning at Hobby Lobby and was totally inspired to start knitting and sewing again and also excited to do some paper crafts again.

Anyways, my creative team designers totally blew me away again this week with how amazing they are. Here are my pages with their new releases.

First is a stunning collab by Traci Reed and Kristin Cronin-Barrow and using a new template by Jac Bernardo

Delightful by Traci Reed and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Bad Sewing Machine - Kinda Kleen by Traci Reed
Boosters No. 1 by Jac Bernardo

Next is a solo kit by Traci Reed... I'm so in love with the color scheme!

At Summer's End by Traci Reed - coming to SSD 8/21
Bad Sewing Machine - Kinda Kleen and Doodle Me Straight by Traci Reed
Cardboard Construction Mega Alpha by Traci Reed
DJB Constance Beauregard by Darcy Baldwin
Inspired by Sasha template by Darcy Baldwin

and Eva Kipler also did a stunning collab with ScrapKitchen designs

Savannah Flea Market by Eva Kipler and ScrapKitchen
DJB All The Cool Chicks by Darcy Baldwin

and a super fun kit by Melissa... the license plates are totally customizable and I also used a new template from Jac with this layout too!

Boy Oh Boy by Melissa Bennett
Bad Sewing Machine - Messy Lil Bits by Traci Reed
DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin
Boosters v. 1 by Jaclyn Bernardo
Free Spirit Alpha by CD Muckosky

Make It Monday

It's been a week since I last updated the blog... I really want to get back into blogging so that means I'm hoping to start make this a part of my daily routine now. I'm kind of hoping that this Make It Monday will be the last one with me posting scrapbook pages because I want to get back into sewing and knitting again, especially with the little one coming. My goal this week is to clean up the family room and get my sewing machine set up down there so that I can work on some things during naptime and then I'm looking for some great knitting patterns and hoping to use up some of my yarn stash to make some things for the little one on the way. I've found some really cute patterns on Etsy, and will be browsing Ravelry soon. Those are things I can do in the evening when the kids are in bed. I'll still be doing scrapbook pages because well, that's my biggest love, but I've been kind of missing my other loves too. Scrappin' Saturday will be when I post those pages.

Here are the pages from this week. Enjoy!

Gotta Get Away by Penny Springmann
template by Lynette - TOT 5/25/10
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman

You Give Me Butterflies by Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman
Layered Up In You - Page Templates 4 by Lauren Grier
DJB Gimme Space by Darcy Baldwin and Lauren Reid
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman

Pop! by Dani Mogstad
Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn
Paper Clips - Leila's Alpha templates by Libby Weifenbach
DJB All The Cool Chicks by Darcy Baldwin
template from Dani's Blog for August Challenge

Lifted: She... by Gumpgirl
Birthday Shenanigans by Melissa Bennett
DJB Constance Beauregard by Darcy Baldwin

Anything You Can Do by Eva Kipler
puddle alpha from Little Big Man by Eva Kipler
Stitch Me: Basic Neutrals by Eva Kipler
Inspired by Sasha template by Darcy Baldwin
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman

Sturdy Solids by Shawna Clingerman
Tattered Cardstock by Libby Weifenbach
More Than Words: Family by Darcy Baldwin and Jenny Hutson
I'm Torn Frames by Libby Weifenbach
Round The Corner Templates by Janet Philips
Scribble Alpha by Lauren Grier
Bad Sewing Machine - Doodle Me Straight by Traci Reed
ribbon from Tuff N Stuff by Traci Reed
Metal Bits by Shawna Clingerman

Tuff N Stuff by Traci Reed
Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman

Cozy Blue Jeans by Shawna Clingerman
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman
Typewriter Alpha freebie by Kristin Cronin-Barrow

Make It Monday

One of the fun portfolio challenges on Sweet Shoppe Designs this month is to be inspired by titles from Elvis Presley songs. There are soooo many songs that he sang that it made it easy to find a title to match a page. Here's the list of Elvis titles and here are the 3 pages I did.

Live For Every Moment by Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman
Layered Up In You Waves 3 by Lauren Grier
DJB Constance Beauregard by Darcy Baldwin
August Grab Bag - wave cluster by Susan Robinson

Foooore! by Traci Reed
DJB Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman
Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn
Dream It Alpha by Lauren Grier
My Teensy Little Alpha by Shawna Clingerman
All Split Up by Jaclyn Bernardo

I Keep Believing by Lauren Grier
Dream It Alpha by Lauren Grier
DJB All the Cool Chicks by Darcy Baldwin
La's August Blog Challenge template
CK Cursive

Journaling reads:
When we were trying to get pregnant we had a hard time. We finally went through some testing and the Dr. told us that it would be a miracle if we ever got pregnant. I told her that I believe in miracles and the next month we were pregnant with Moriah. I believe that God through the use of medicine allowed us to become pregnant. 2 years later after several miscarriages I believe that God through the use of IVF allowed us to be pregnant with Isaac. This pregnancy has been the biggest surprise of all. God has shown us that he can still do miracles even without the use of modern day medicine. God has seriously blown me away with this pregnancy! He knew I really wanted a third child and he has answered my prayers in a way I never thought possible. I’m so thankful that he’s a God of miracles and has blessed us with this child!

Scrappin' Saturday

I have a few pages today that I created this week for my creative teams. Once again there are some great new releases at Sweet Shoppe Designs!

I had fun scrapping some of my pics from vacation and also created a few more pages that I'll share on Monday. Here's an awesome new kit from Traci and the photos are from when we went on our really tough hike at Shannon Lake.

I Love You More by Traci Reed

Bad Sewing Machine - LooptyLoo by Traci Reed
DJB Constance Beauregard

and here's Eva's new beach kit which was perfect for this pic of Moriah from WI.

Beach Bound by Eva Kipler
Clip Me! Waves by Eva Kipler
DJB All the Cool Chicks by Darcy Baldwin
CK Cursive

and this adorable back to school kit from Melissa! We haven't started school yet here but thought it was perfect for my pics of my little book lover.

Hall Pass by Melissa Bennett

DJB Coffee Shoppe Buzzed by Darcy Baldwin and Shawna Clingerman

Will be back Monday with some more pages from this week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Work In Progress Wednesday

Well, we've been enjoying some vacation although Mark's been spending as much time as he can fixing up the driveway. It hadn't been sealed in several years and it's in really bad shape but to re-do the driveway cost a crazy amount of money so another DIY project for us. First Mark borrowed a pressure washer and washed the driveway. WOW, that was crazy and here's a pic of how messy Mark got, lol.
and then he's been pulling out all the loose asphalt and filling our driveway back in. It's been quite a project and now we see why it's so expensive to do a driveway. He hopes to finish filling it all in by the end of the weekend because you can't seal the driveway for a month and then he's hoping to seal it over Labor Day weekend. I'll get some updated photos for you next week hopefully, but here's a little pic of what needed to go into it... it's a much bigger project than we though it was going to be because we wanted to do it right so we don't have to do it again in a few years. That seems to be how all the projects around here go, lol. We still haven't painted this place and the colors are really really starting to get to me, lol. I can't wait for this fall when the weather is cooler and we can get to painting again.

Trim Down Tuesday - hiking in WI

OK, now that the big vacation is over with, I plan to keep this blog going again. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we miss the last family reunion to move into our house. It still doesn't feel like we've done much but looking back I realize we done a ton of work on the house. I don't know why it feels like we haven't gotten much done... I'm guessing it's because we still haven't painted so we have the bright obnoxious colors of the previous owner still on our banged up walls. I really hope that as soon as the weather cools down a bit we can get to painting all the rooms and will finally feel like our own home. My goal is to have the family room opened up in the fall so that we can start entertaining again.

Anyways, back to trimming down... one of my goals is to stay fit during this pregnancy and so I've been taking the kids for a 3 mile stroller ride almost daily. This summer has been soooo hot that I've had to go first thing in the morning before it got too hot and humid although, I'm still drenched by the time I get back. I must say though after this week in WI, I'm so thankful we spent the money on a Mountain Buggy instead of a BOB. I know the BOB is made more for running but my goodness the Mountain Buggy was totally built for the hiking we did on vacation. It did totally awesome in the terrain we were hiking in... definitely not the Illinois Prairie Path, lol.

Anyways, I thought I'd share some pics from some of the trails we were on. The one trail was soooo narrow that there were times I thought the stroller was going to flip sideways, not to mention to huge tree roots that would literally stop us abruptly. Oh, and the trees down over the trail so we literally had to take the kids out and get them over the trees and then get the stroller over them, lol. We had such a blast though... and the best part of that trail was this little side trail that lead to the beach. The lake was literally secluded other than one boat with a couple men fishing. I forgot to take a pic but at the boat landing we saw a sign that said "electric motors only" so that explains why the lake was so peaceful and why it felt like a little piece of heaven on earth. How could you not be totally amazed by God's creation after seeing something as gorgeous as that.