Sunday, May 27, 2012

And then it came to an end..

The school year that is. It's over and I no longer have a Kindergartner. We had a busy week, lots of "lasts" and some good times too.
 First day of school
Last day of school
 with her teacher
 my 3 amigos

And some pictures from their Kindergarten Field Day



 

And one from their Fine Arts program.


It was a FUN week, and an exhausting one too. All good things must come to an end, huh? Hard to believe I have a 1st grader now. Bring on summer! :D

Hope you're having a great weekend!


Friday, May 25, 2012

Last Guest Post

It's been such a fun month designing for Let's Capture Our Memories. My last guest blog post is up today on their blog. You can find it here. And again I want to thank Tanya and Nicole for having me.

Today I have another layout to share using one of my new favorite manufacturers, Simple Stories. I fell in LOVE with their "Fabulous" collection, it's so perfect for pictures of my girls! 
 "That's My Girl"
 
To finish off the layout, I used some old Crate Paper brads and Thickers from my stash. I added a couple of tags from Elle's Studio for journaling purposes. and some brown mist behind the title. But it's REALLY hard to see. I guess I should've used paint instead. I also threw in a Bella Blvd. crocheted flower and flag and called it a day.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I should tell y'all that more often. I really do appreciate all the kind words and comment you leave.

Happy Friday!


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Featuring Bella Blvd's crocheted flowers

Hi there everyone! Today's post is a quick one because we're in the midst of winding down the school year around here. And you know what that means--End-of-the-Year craziness. Each day it seems like we're having another "last". Whether it's our last softball game, last day of school or last of the church activities. The "lasts" are keeping us busy.

BUT in spite of all the busyness, I've still be creating here and there. This card went up on the Bella Blvd. blog yesterday. The designers were asked to feature Bella's new crocheted flowers, which I love! Here's a Congrats card using them. 



I really love using them. I tend to reach for them, especially when I'm looking to add some great texture and dimension to my cards.  Here are a few more you may have seen before.


They're really a fun embellishment that I love having on hand. Be sure to check out with the other designers did with them on the Bella Blvd. blog.

Happy Wednesday! Happy LAST DAY of SCHOOL for us!!!


Friday, May 18, 2012

Bella Blvd. + The Twinery team-up Day 5

Today is the last day of the team-up and I have one more project to share. This time it's of my little man when he was only one week old. So sweet, so teeny tiny.

"Baby Face"
 
 See? I TOLD you that you'd see the argyle from me again. You may remember it from this post. But this time I went with it on a much larger scale, making it the feature of the layout.



 And don't forget! If you haven't already, be sure to leave a comment on the Bella Blvd. blog to be entered to win a and embellishment pack giveaway.

And there's still time to enter The Twinery giveaways over on their blog too! 

Happy Friday everyone!


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Bella Blvd. & The Twinery team-up days 1 and 2


This week two of my favorite manufacturers, Bella Blvd. and The Twinery, are teaming up to share their creativity and I am fortunate to get to be along for the ride.  So far two of my projects have been up on the Bella Blvd. blog.  This first one is of Caroline and her softball team.
 "Green Gators"
If I can take just a quick second to be a bragging Mama, last night Caroline had an awesome game! She hit 2 doubles and a single. She also had 5 solo put-outs at first base (she LOVES first base), and she also made her very first double play!!! Of course I had to explain to her what a double play IS, but still. I was proud. Still am. But don't get me wrong either. We coaches still have to remind her to quit playing in the dirt after every other pitch. lol! At least she's not catching butterflies like she was in soccer. Ahh...the life of a 6 yr. old! 

Now moving on to my other Bella/Twinery project. I had a card up on Monday using Bella Blvd.'s "Sunshine & Happiness" collection.
"Hello"

And before I go let me remind you that there's a giveaway every day this week over on The Twinery blog. 
Hop on over and see what their DT did with some Bella Blvd. goodness.

And be sure to check out the Bella Blvd. blog this week to see all the AMAZING projects that have been created! Seriously, there's some rockin' stuff over there!

Happy Wednesday!

 

Monday, May 14, 2012

Lily Bee Sketch #9

I caught this sweet tender moment at the wedding a couple of weekends ago. It still melts my heart. Big sister simply said, "C'mon McClain. Let's dance." And off they went to the dance floor by themselves. I used Patricia's Lily Bee sketch (also known as sketch #9) to capture this sweet simple moment.
the sketch:

 "A Simple Moment Like this"


I tried to keep true to the sketch while keeping true to my design style too. To do that, I stuck mainly to the center portion of the sketch, but added a little to the top too. The journaling reads: "Happiness is...watching your oldest dance with your youngest and enjoying the moment."  I used Lily Bee's Hopscotch papers and stickers. Then added a little Bella Blvd. designer's tape, a wooden button and alpha stickers, Prima canvas and burlap flowers, Tattered Angels ink (still wondering why it bled this time), Twinery twine and an inked doily. 

And that's all for today. Pretty soon I'll be sharing some fun projects from the Bella Blvd./Twinery team-up. So stay tuned for those!

Happy Monday!



Friday, May 11, 2012

blogging in spurts

Good grief. Last week I blogged every single day. This week? nada.  We've been down for the count with the stomach bug we caught last weekend and I'm just trying to catch up on everything. Blogging has been on the back burner. BUT I do want to share some of the pictures I took last weekend. I'm kinda proud of them. ;)

My step-sister got married, andI really really love 
this shot. Her real photographer was already inside.
This was literally 1 min. before she walked 
down the aisle.

 The girls were the flower girls...

who got a  little rambunctious 
during formal pictures

Unfortunately, only one of them 
made it down the aisle.

 The other was doing this.
At 1st we thought it was just nerves.
Turns out she was the first to get the stomach bug.

 That didn't stop her sister from enjoying 
the reception. (dancing with my step-mom)

Then she danced with her brother, which
made him SO happy.
In all, it was a good weekend. We ALL ended up getting sick that night. Josh had actually had it a few days before, so he was a our knight in shining armor that night in the hotel room. He might've gotten 2 hrs. of sleep while the rest of us tried to go easy on him. Who says mommys are the only ones with a sense of nurturing? He was a rock star, especially that night.  The illness has lingered, and it's left me playing catch up in so many different areas.  BUT I wanted to share. It's what we've been up to. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with pictures from the Kindergarten Mom's Spa day. While Caroline was doing my hair, make-up, nails, massaging my arms, and putting "pickles" on my eyes, her teachers were taking pictures. I hope to get a hold of them and share tomorrow. It was such a sweet day!

Happy Friday everyone!



Saturday, May 5, 2012

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!

Yes, today's National Scrapbooking Day! I hope you all are having a great one! As a part of celebrating the day, the girls at Bella Blvd. are sharing pictures of what their scrap rooms look like.

*I* have a super small scrap space. In case you don't know, we live in a little 1950s bungalow, and let me tell ya, the builders hardly built closets much less a place to create and craft! SO with a little help from Dad and Josh, we took out a half bath that was in our laundry room (who puts a bathroom in with the laundry anyway?!) and converted it into a little space for my supplies.  I use it more as a storage space than anything. Usually while I'm scrapping I like to watch a movie or TV shows, so I usually bring everything out to our coffee table. Oh, and my dining room table may or may not have a few (ha!) supplies on it too. lol!

 Anyway, here's my space.
 The "table" is actually laid on top of a would be functioning sink. I keep a lot of my little supplies on the wall shelf away from little hands. Chipboard, adhesives, embossing supplies, etc. are in the cubes. Those are my embossing folders in an old CD holder next to my Cuttlebug. The black basket holds my punches. I have another that's on the dining room table. And my completed cards are in the far corner, standing up in a Tupperware.

Probably the most functional organizational tool I have is my 2-tiered Clip-It-Up that holds most my Thickers, mini alphas, and embellishments that are still on their cards. I love that I can spin it and find stuff really quickly. It also helps me because I like to SEE what I have. If it's put away (neatly in its place of course), I forget I have it. The bins below hold miscellaneous stuff like things to be altered, my one unfinished December Daily, a bent sketch pad (lol!), and my binder of stamps. This is one area I really could improve on. There's so much space that's not being utilized.

My favorite part of my scrap room is the yellow post-it note on the wall. It's from my husband. He stuck it there just after we'd finished converting the space and it says, "You are so very creative and inspirational through your pages". So yeah, I kept it. It's not moving from that spot.  He's a keeper too! :D

Thanks for letting me take you on a little tour of my "room". :)

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!