and then there was fun.

this week at jessica sprague, there are 31 (thirty-one!!!) new products in the store.

there is also a new designer.

so guess what?

I have 4 (four!!!) layouts to show off today.

(and you can click on each layout to see a full list of credits, just in case you forgot!!)

first up, the new designer, glitz design: “happy travels”:

and as I post this, I realize I never even recorded our trip to disneyland….

then there’s design by dani, “hello sunshine”:

some fun from spelndid fiins with another (!!!) “knock-out mask”, this time, it’s chevrons!!

and lastly, echo park’s “sweet day”:

I am really digging hexagons lately.  I even have a quilt planned that is all hexagons..  but first, I have to bind my other quilt, and then, well, find more time somehow?

me & my dad: mini album for the kiddos

so here’s the deal, I saw this on pinterest, loved the idea, and kind of ran, a little zig-zag crazy-like with the idea.

but I am in love with it!

(oh, yeah, merrill..  if you are reading this, stop.  close out the page.  go look at some funny stuff on “the chive” or something, okay?  seriously, get a snack or a drink.  don’t come back here.  k?  loveyoubye.)

you can never be too careful, you know?

so anyway..  it’s a mini album, mostly stuff the kiddos can do, filling out question & answer sheets, drawing pictures..  it’s fun.

unless you have two kiddos that take after their mom and are perfectionists.  that is slightly problematic.

there are eight 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 pages for each kiddo to fill out.

 

(here’s the download link for the printable pages.)

there are some pretty fun questions there!

we grabbed a bunch of supplies, like sharp pencils with good erasers, crayons and such.

for the cover, I used some chipboard that I cut down to 6 inches square.  I made a template to help me in punching all the holes too.  the inner pages are all 5 1/2 inches square.

I had to hunt down book rings (those things were harder to find than I thought..) to bind it all together.  ribbon and ric-rac tied to one ring helped to polish that off.

I used my cricut to cut out the circle and scallop shapes on the front (“storybook” cartridge) and the “street sign” font cartridge for the lettering.  I obviously cut the letters out in different sizes too.

I also pierced holes in the circle + scallop after I glued them together, but before I glued down my letters, and used a cross-stitch needle and some floss to stitch around the inside edge of the circle.

I made a pocket in the front, to slip in a little letter from myself too. 

I added dividers with a tab at the top of each to write each of my girls’ names on.

I also added a picture of each of them with their dad.

and they each drew a picture of them + dad":

lynnie’s:

ashley’s:

pey’s:

some other fun examples:

this was so sweet!!  I wrote what peyton told me to, she can handle her name ^^^ (see above) but the journaling needed a little help.  so just in case you cannot read the following:

“dad, I am thankful for so many things you do for me…  here are just a few:

he makes me lunch, he lets me visit him at work, dad took us to Disneyland and Lake Powell too.  I am thankful that he plays with me.  he does the “bed bounce”.  I am thankful that he goes to my primary class with me so I won’t be so sad.”

this one makes me giggle…

here’s the inside of the back cover:

and the very back:

I think he just might love it.  maybe not as much as I do, because I am kind of obsessed, but he’ll love it for sure!

so my very best friends for this project were:

paper trimmer, scissors, hole punch, crop-o-dile corner chomper (1/2 inch rounder), xyron sticker maker, paper piercer, needle, floss, twill ribbon, ric-rac, baker’s twine, small sharpie, 2 one inch book rings, stapler, and these digital supplies:

splendid fiins “foto frame” for the frames on the photos.

all echo park papers:

clouds

red + small white polkas

white + red polkas

turquoise + small polkas

larger turquoise polkas

red herringbone

turquoise squigglies

light turquoise pattern

and that was april, I guess…

that was fast.

and before we know it, may will be over and done with, and it will be sweet, sweet, summertime.

*sigh.*

this mom can’t wait.

(homework will be the death of me.)

due to house drama (houses..  pffft.) I was scrambling a bit to get projects that were all done in my head actually done.  like, as in, done-done.

so, here’s a peek:

(click on layout for complete list of products and all that jazz.)

echo park.

do you love fun scrapping products?

do you love coordinated lines with papers, embellies, alphas, and journaling cards, that were made to be together?

then you will (and probably already do) love echo park.

I know I enjoy creating with their products.

they are the spotlighted designer of the week at jessica sprague, and the entire echo park store is on sale!!

50% off kiddos!!!

here’s some of the fun I have had with echo park goodness:

(click on image for list of full credits.)

I mustache you question…

isn’t this line the cutest?!

(click on layout for list of full credits.)

echo park’s latest “times & seasons” has these great elements for both heritage/traditional type pages, and then stuff for the funny/silly/hairy variety.

perfect for a few pictures taken at lake powell with our fake mustaches.

(thanks jaclyn, those were a blast!!!)

so many more fun and exciting things going on here..  fun activities, darling pictures, silly stores, etc.

but those will have to come after I wrap all of those christmas gifts.

(and cram in everything else I let wait until the week of…)

I am aiming at getting that chore done before christmas eve.  there is nothing quite like staying up until 3 am (christmas morning, really) wrapping gifts, thinking about how all of this hard work and lost sleep will be in the garbage can within hours.

there’s some christmas spirit for ya!!

and then there was august..

I don’t want to depress you..  I don’t want to depress myself, but did you know, were you aware, that august is almost over?

really.

next week, and that’s it.

hello september.

see, I depressed you.

shame on me.

I really am sorry.

maybe what I have been working on, catching up on (because I’ve been enjoying the last bit of my summer and playing a lot), will help to cheer you.

they just make me long for summer…

(click on image for list of full credits + links.)

in the haze of cold/allergies (still not sure..) i missed a whole monday.

**SCROLL ON DOWN FOR THE JESSICA SPRAGUE BIRTHDAY BOLGHOP FREEBIE!!!**

i was looking back over the projects i did this last month, enjoying them, and fixing mistakes (wink, wink) that have been found, and i realized, i missed a monday!

is there possibly anything worse than missing out on a whole day?

yes, there is.

a summer cold that has it’s hold on the majority of the household.

or is it allergies?

i still can’t make up my mind.

it sucks though.

so here’s what i missed:

(hope you did too.)

echo park:

(as always, click on the layout for complete credits.)

in the making:

and jodie lee:

the perfect monday.

it’s a cool, overcast, sometimes stormy monday here.

there’s stuff to be done, stuff that i want to do, but the weather is perfect for me to snuggle up with the monstrous book i started last week, and really want to finish.  at first it was so i could move onto the second book in a series i started, but this one, it was just hanging over my head.  now i am genuinely into it and want to know what happens!!

well, then there’s the many pictures i want to edit, and scrap.  so many new products i want to play with.  a couple of new sewing patterns i want to make multiples of..

and then there’s my room…

i really want to work on aspects of that, but that would also involve playing musical light fixtures with..  i think 5 lights?  i keep losing count.

so many fun things!!

so for now, i will just show you the fun stuff i have been working with this last week…

(click on image for list of full credits k?)

echo park’s new collection: “splash”.

and elle’s studio cupcake flags.  any excuse to make a cupcake!!  when i saw these, i immediately saw a banner.  add a little of my own bazzill from my stash, some double-sided tape and twine and there it is.  pretty darn cute if i do say so myself.

the recipe for these guys is here, i omitted all coconut to make them a delicious vanilla.  i would have to add, that in a pinch, soured milk to replace the buttermilk which is called for, does not (IN NO WAY!!) work.  they weren’t nearly as tasty or light and fluffy and thus, ended up in my garbage can.

(after we ate most of them.)

the only other thing that makes this monday not as perfect as it could be is that the birthday sale at jessica sprague has been delayed by a day.

so just hold on!!  it will start at midnight.

(hopefully links to the new products used above will be updated then too.)

Terrific Tuesday!

(I am trying hard to crank out creative post titles and sucking adequately at it.)
Today is not only “Template Tuesday” but it is also my 11th wedding anniversary.
Not only that..  but I finally had time to complete templates from not only LAST Tuesday, but today as well..
(For full credits, please click on the layout.)


And the fun news doesn’t end there my friends!!
Nope.
I was featured at CK’s blog.  Pretty close to that place I have been dreaming of being featured at for years….
Pretty terrific for this Tuesday if I do say so myself.

A little Spring for your Monday. *UPDATED WITH LINKY*

At my house, right this minute, it is snowing.  There is a little thunder and lightening mixed in with that snow too.  Out my front door, when I took the girls to school, there was the sun shining, but in the distance, dark, dark clouds.  We could hear the thunder and knew what was coming.  When we looked out the back door, it was so deceptive!  There was full sunshine, a little blue sky, some light, white clouds, but a totally different world out that back door.
The point in all of this..
It is springtime in Utah.
This is how I have to get my fix for Spring on days like today:
Echo Park has a new line out today, “Sidewalk Chalk”.
(Click on image for full credits.)

Spendid Fiins has Baker’s Twine, new in store today.  I love the stuff already!!
(Click on image for full credits.)

Hope you have a little Spring wherever you are!
(Hope you can find some if you are in the same boat that I am..  or sled.)
Just for kicks and giggles, here’s the templates I made for these layouts, for you, for FREEEEE!! 
If you use them, link up to this post, show me what you did with them.
Swooshy squares template.
Simple Circles template.
**I wasn’t sure how difficult/time-consuming it would be to add a linky to this post, to, you know, link up what you did with the template, but turns out it’s not so hard!
So link away ladies…
Link away.**