trying to hold back tears..

so things change.

babies grow, people die, time passes waaay too fast, and as women, we have hormones.

my hormones are at this very moment on the emotional up-swing.  it’s fabulous. 

(we are all thankful that I can step back and realize that it is hormones…)

so while I created these layouts earlier in the week, when my hormones were doing other things to my body, as I look at them now, I want to cry!!!

so we’ll get through this quickly…

first up is “grandpa’s chair” using goodies from liv, including her newest, brownbagger paper pack vol. 5.

I could NEVER get enough of her brownbagger papers…  NEVER.

(for full credits click on the layout.)

this second one is only four years old (ppffttt…), but this is what digital project life is so good for!!  catching up in a fast, easy, gorgeous way!

this layout I used becky’s “p” template (perfect for little peyton..), “honey” edition cards, “baby” paper,  stitching from anna aspnes, staples from liv, and that fun baker’s twine from splendid fiins.

okay..  so I am not going to look at these for at least another week, try to block out the fact that school will be starting again this month (aaaakkkk!!!!), and just try to do things that are fun, non-tear inducing.

this is going to be hard…

did I mention that it’s really the hormones fault?

not a pity party.

just a list of excuses for why I am behind two days. :/

merrill has a bad sinus infection, and by “bad” I mean horrendous. 

he started feeling it the end of last week, and by saturday, he was ready to go to the doctor. (!!!!!)  really.  this guy, asking to go to the doctor?  it MUST be bad.

too bad for him, the instacare had closed, he got to wait until the next morning.

two antibiotics, a prescription for loritab in hand, the kid was still struggling.

we have tried EVERYTHING.  by everything I mean EVERYTHING..  well, except for this one drink I found on pinterest.  we are not brave enough to try that.

(for the curious:  water, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, honey, and lemon.  in my experience, ingesting apple cider vinegar ends in vomit.)

we have tried just about every decongestant, steam, oils, reflexology, moist+heated washcloths, then graduated to a rice bag that we have been spritzing and heating.  the loritab didn’t help.  we have already gone through a bottle of advil.  neither of us have gotten a full night of sleep since…  thursday?

it’s awesome.

I really can’t stand to see him so sick.

but, I have accomplished a few things, and as time (and my new nursing schedule permit) I will post all of my accomplishments and fun finds.

for now, here’s two layouts brought to you by the goodness at AC Digitals.

first up is new product, “Dear Lizzy Spring”.

(you can get it on sale this week!)

other goodies on this page:

stitching- anna aspnes
frame- liv.edesigns
photo corner- splendid fiins
background paper- amy tangerine “ready set go”

 

this loveliness is from crate paper “fourteen”.

 

I had to laugh at myself while saving off this layout.  I have a lot (A LOT) of layouts titled “sisters”.

that’s what I get for having 3 girls.

also used on this page:

stitching- anna aspnes

buttons- crystal wilkerson

paint brush and brown paper for the letters- liv.edesigns

font- “burvetica thick nc”

chevron love!

let’s be honest..  these have been trendy for a while now, I have loved them all along, and I am not tired of them!!

liv has out, brand new today, some lovely shabby chevron papers.

two things I love: shabby & chevron.

(oohhhh!!  ooohhhh!!  and liv, of course.)

they are on sale this weekend!  I would go grab some…

(I also grabbed nancie rowe janitz crazy for chevrons 1 and crazy for chevrons 2 first thing this morning..  LOVE her stuff!!  and hello, it’s more chevron!)

here’s the layout I created with liv’s goodness:

(as always, click on layout for full list of credits and yada yada yada..)

the major things on my to-do list today:

- finish kitchen stools

- clean craft room

- play in craft room

- eliminate the “to mend” pile

- do taxes (blah!!)

- find blueing (this should be #1)

- wash pillows (banish the sickie germs!!!)

hope my day is as productive as yours…

floral lane and sketchbook

two of the newest additions to the ac digitals store today!!

first up:  pebbles “floral lane”.

so sweet and girly…

other goodies used:

brown bag paper:  liv.edesigns

yellow stitching (also adjusted to white for the buttons):  liv.edesigns

(with a hue/saturation adjustment to perk up the yellow a bit.)

white heart:  karla dudley

white stitching:  anna aspnes

buttons, epoxy hearts, and ric-rac:  dani mogstad

staple:  crystal wilkerson

font:  “firefly castle”

 

and here’s amy tangerine’s “sketchbook”.

I find it funny, that before I even signed on with ac digitals, I bought some of these goodies in the traditional form…  I knew I loved them before they were even digi!!

stitching:  anna aspnes

turquoise splatter brush, frame, and staple:  liv.edesigns

green misting brush:  splendid fiins

 

I have a certain 5 year old not feeling so hot today.

our day looks like laundry, some cleaning, and finishing up my new magnetic+chalk board wall.

(review on that fun to come soon.)

I am hoping to get to my craft room today, not only to craft, to clean, hopefully to start the chalkboard (notice the absence of magnet there?) and to play.  I found some heidi swapp goodies at michaels last week, I have been itching to play with them for DAYS.

some ac digitals love.

geez.  I feel like I have been out of it for a while!

I have been working away at project life.  it is a blast!! 

(more on that later..)

for now, here’s some good stuff from ac digitals:

this is all ac digitals “soho garden”.

well, except for the stitching..

stitching:  anna aspnes frames no. 3

the next two kits are on sale this week at ac digitals!!

go grab them!

this layout was mostly created with pebbles “with love”  new today in the store.

here are the exceptions:

chevron paper:  pebbles “walnut grove”

all stitching:  anna aspnes (circles no. 2, white no. 3, and frames no. 1)

frame:  katie pertiet “curled photo frames”

ric-rac:  splendid fiins “feedsack” elements pack 2

pink photo corner:  splendid fiins “feedsack” elements pack 1

twill ribbon:  katie pertiet

staple:  dani mogstad “chasing rainbows”

rhinestones:  dani mogstad “a lot like christmas”

date stamp:  liv.edesigns “needs + wants it’s a date stamp”

font:  “my type of font”

this is all ac digitals, “city park”.

well, with the exception of the stitching, again..

stitching:  anna aspnes (white 1, loops white 1)

AND liv’s brownbagger paper.

fonts:

“bebas neue”

“pea sugar noodles”

playing catch-up is a great form of exercise.

so merrill is home.

(sigh.)

he has been home for a week, but I have been too busy enjoying his presence that I have not mentioned it.

we have already enjoyed our first halibut dinner.  delicious.

we were also thrust back into real life (i.e. work and the daily routine) rather quickly.

so while trying to be creative, take pictures, mother, cook, clean, organize (because fall puts me in the mood to de-clutter and visit the d.i.), prep. for a certain 8 year-old to be birthday+baptism, soccer, tumbling, and getting a new hotel ready to open, I have managed to have some fun.

I had an especially fun night last night while I cleaned-up the old hard drive on my computer.  organizing the c drive and the external hard drive seriously define what fun is to me.  I am a geek.  I did a little happy dance when I found a long lost (think almost 8 years long) video.  I also did another happy dance when I freed up about 100 gb on my c drive.

I have many projects to document, I allowed only a week of the two merrill was gone, to be depressed, then I got crafty.  they are quite cute, if I do say so myself.

so, you can sit back and be patient, enjoy these here posts as they come.

here’s the scrapbook layouts I got done in september:

(click on the image for the list of products and junk.)

I wanted to do a quick layout of all the snippets of memories from this year’s trip to lake powell, and that is what the journaling of this layout consists of, those little bits.

my favorite memories:

- merrill surprising me with a playlist for the drive that had old, sentimental songs on it.

- ashley jumping off the top of the houseboat!!!  (she is my dare-devil daughter.)

- staying in reflection canyon.  (gorgeous.)

here’s a layout featuring a quote that I have used before, and HAD to use again.  the picture told me to do it.

and, well, I will NEVER get tired of pictures of my girlies reading.

never.

ash was so excited to start moby dick.

scrappy doo.

here’s a few layouts I managed to complete last month.

as per usual, click on the layout for a full list of credits!

can you guess which one is my absolute favorite?

I will give you a clue:  it is the one that took me the most time to complete.

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

feeling scrappy.

I love pinterest for some good old inspiration, love blog hopping for the same reason.  there have been many things that have caught my eye, I have pinned them, totally planning on doing something with them sometime…

I finally crossed off a couple of those ideas last week.

#1 – wood grain.

now I have used it here and there, but I wanted to use it in a funkier way.  not in your traditional woodsy tones.

splendid fiins came out with another “knock-out” misting mask, and well, the rest is history:

(click on layouts for full cred.)

I have admired the look of title work cut from the main background paper, with a fun patterned paper placed behind, peeking through.

here’s me favorite example from elizabeth kartchner.

I mean, sure, you could get stickers, or cut the letters out of the patterned paper, but there is something about the look of it…

I can admit, that it took me awhile to get the drop shadows on this kraft background just right, and still, I look at it and wonder if it should be tweaked more…

I adjusted those darn drop shadows, merging layers, duplicating them, tweaking the shadows, multiplying and tweaking so many times, I lost track of how many times I did it!

my eyes, seriously, were on the verge of bleeding.

but that is what happens when you get passionate about an idea!

my new obsession with misting.

I am unable to disclose, at this time, how many mists I have.

I have a few actual, as in “squirt, squirt” mists, and a few more digital, as in “no mess”, mists.

I am slightly obsessed at the moment.

I have a few layouts open, that I go between when I have a second, trying to tweak and add until they are just right, with these new digital mists incorporated.

let’s face it, they were inspired by these mists!!

(click on the layout for a special prize.)

(whatever, you should know by now, it’s for full credits and links to the goodies.)

on this layout, I had the title in 15 (fifteen!!) different fonts.  most of them a similar style, most of them stroked (the font itself turned off, and the outline visible), and I kept going between each one, clicking the little eyeball next to each layer to turn it off an on, trying to decide which font I loved best.

it was excruciating.

but I love the end result.

lemme tell you a little something though..

these misting brushes, they come with different masks.  different brushes, come with different masks. 

that means, multiple misting brushes, different looks..

I simply have to have them all!!

(slightly obsessed.)

and what’s awesome on top of the already very awesome?

no mess.

no mess to clean up!!!

that is pretty sweet considering my actual scrapbooking room is one giant mess, that needs to be cleaned up.

might I suggest you go and buy every “knock out” now, today, so you can get them for a crazy good price.

splendid fiins

it’s another spotlight!

(I love these.  so much fun!!)

nisa of splendid fiins has such a fun style.  she is another one who is a go-to when I am putting any layout together.

(I especially love her messy stitching.)

(and her border punches, set one or two.)

(oh, and anything “@ the office”.  love.)

as per usual, her entire store is on sale thru sunday night.  so run and stock up on some favs!

and I will share some more of mine with you now:

(click on layout for full list of credits..  yadda-yadda-yadda…)