Tuesday, April 29, 2008

changing the view...

...simply because I'm sure that anyone who has been checking in is probably sick and tired of seeing the "idea books for sale" post! I don't really have much to share - but I thought I'd change the view a bit.


Here's a layout I created a while back - it's based on one of Becky Higgins' sketches (April 2008). It's not super exciting - but it was fun to try something a little different than usual - I don't usually leave this much white space on my pages, but it was fun.
Hopefully I'll be back soon with something more exciting to share. :o)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

idea books for sale...

ETA: If you leave a comment here, you also need to e-mail me or leave your e-mail address in your comment - otherwise I have no way of contacting you!
I spent a huge chunk of time on Saturday organizing and cleaning my scrapbook room. I am now willing to admit that I'm an idea book addict. Seriously, I have a problem. I buy them. A lot of them. I look through them once or twice. Then I put them on my shelf and never open them again. Sometimes when I have a project in a book and I haven't received my complimentary copy yet, I'll buy it...even though I know I'll be getting one soon. It's a problem. I have shelves full of them. And now, I've decided it's time to part with some of them.

I thought I'd list them on e-bay. Then I decided to give my blog-readers a chance at a really good deal first. So, I'm listing the first bunch here tonight. I'll add a picture of the cover and a bargain price! If you're interested in something, just send me an e-mail and I'll take it off the list - first come, first serve.
If you're local, you can pick them up, or we can meet somewhere to get them to you. If you're not, you can choose how you want me to send them, and then I'll just have you pay the exact shipping cost. After we've finalized a price, I'll have you send the money via PayPal.

Okay, here we go:
Paper Trends Dec/Jan 08: $3
Wedding Creations: $1

You can post here, but please e-mail me as well.
Thanks! :o)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

backyardigans overload...

I'm thinking that might explain last night's little conversation with Seth.
It went something like this:

Seth: Mom, how old were you when you and dad got married?
Me: I was 20.
Seth: How old was Daddy?
Me: He was 22.
Seth: When did Daddy go to the temple? Was it before you got married?
Me: Yes, Daddy went to the temple when he was 19 - before he went on his mission.
Seth: Oh! Was it a secret spy mission????

I think I know what we'll be doing for Family Home Evening on Monday!!! :o)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

a few scrappy notes of interest...

1) I was so very excited when found a fun treat in my mailbox a couple of days ago. Maybe you did too...it was the May issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

This is the best (only) image I could find online:


Are you wondering why I was so excited? This is why:



Yep - I designed the layout that is featured on the cover! What an honor! And I was especially excited to do it when I received the beautiful picture of my friend, Maggie to use on my page. Isn't she beautiful with her sweet little baby girl?

2) Have you been to the Making Memories website lately?


It's got a whole new look - along with updated product photos, special tips, lots of ideas. If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely check it out!

3) I've been working like a crazy woman for the last few days (and nights - mostly nights - all night on Tuesday) on a couple of mini albums using some of the older O'Scrap! product (which I still love -- especially the Sampler papers).

They are for the booth at the Scrapbook USA expo this weekend. I found out yesterday that they will also be using one of my albums for a short tv spot tomorrow (Friday) morning. So if it's not Friday morning yet, and you live in Utah, and you want to see...watch Fox 13 News at 8:08. I hear Big Buddah (is that how you spell it??) will be doing the interviewing and I'm sure Terri will do a fabulous job!
4) My scrapbook room is a complete disaster...does anyone want to come over and help me clean up and reorganize??? :o)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

spring break 2008...

Wow, I feel like I'm so far behind - it's been a while since I've blogged and we've been busy, so there's a lot to record. I've been inspired by my buddy, Laura, to create a blog book at the end of the year - so I'm trying to include more of our "everyday life" on my blog...so this post is definitely going to be serving more as a journal entry and will be basically unrelated to scrapbooking -- so if you're only here for scrapbook related entries, you might find this post boring...check back soon for a scrapbook related entry!

April 5th was the first official day of spring break - it was also Brad's birthday!



He asked for three things - pens, (because he can never find one when he needs one), calculators (because ours seem to grow legs and walk away on their own), and a CD set he's been wanting forever - since he saw it on a late-night infomercial. So, that's what he got - four packs of pens (one package from each child), and two calculators. I also surprised him with a pair of Crocs...



I had ordered the CD's for him, but they still hadn't arrived on Saturday morning - so we were especially excited when they were delivered later Saturday afternoon! I know,
I know - he has a huge spectrum of musical preference...I don't think there's any kind of music he doesn't like - but he's a big 60's fan! :o)
We didn't really have a party for Brad's birthday - with it being Spring break, pretty much everyone in the family was headed out of town for the week. We did, however, go out for lunch - just our little family. We went to Don Pedros, because you can't beat churros and fried icecream for a birthday treat, right?!?

On a side-note, I woke up Saturday morning with a killer sore throat (I'd felt it coming on Thursday and Friday...but since I'd pulled a couple of all-nighters for work I really thought it was just a side-effect of no sleep). I knew we were headed out of town on Sunday so I decided (with a little urging from Brad) to visit the brand new Urgent Care facility Saturday morning. I was actually glad to find out that I had strep - because having strep means you can take antibiotics and get better! So I started my penicillin regimin on Saturday afternoon and by Monday morning I was feeling pretty good.
The rest of Saturday was spent packing, cleaning, listening to General Conference, and getting ready to head to St. George on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday, we left after the morning session of Conference and headed South - to the sunshine!
Monday was gorgeous! The kids couldn't wait to hit the pools.

The last time we went to St. George, Seth wouldn't have anything to do with the pool or hottub. He was completely uninterested in the water and only wanted to play at the playgrounds. This trip was a whole different story. He LOVED the hot tub. There were lots of kids jumping in and out, going between the hot tub and the pools, but Seth was content to sit in the hot tub. He surprised me by striking up conversations with the other little kids as they came in and out - he met several four-year-olds. It was really entertaining listening to them introducing themselves and carrying on conversations as if they had been doing it for years!


Zach was not interested in getting in the water at all this time. He was content to dip his toes in the hot tub and play with the water toys on the pool deck. As long as his daddy was nearby, he was happy.

Tuesday was not very warm and it was very windy. But we weren't complaining because we knew it was snowing at home...

Instead of pools, we went to a museum of sorts in Washington. We'd been there before, but Brad wanted to go back. The building is actually an old school house - and it smelled EXACTLY like I remember the old North School here in Heber smelling when I went there in 1st and 2nd grade. (isn't it so weird how smells can stay with us forever - lurking in the depths of our subconscious - and how they can trigger memories of things we'd totally forgotten about - or at least it seemed they were forgotten) Anyway, the building is full of old stuff...and it's all out in the open, not in glass cases...and there is even a table full of odd old objects that you are supposed to guess what they are. The kids loved being able to see everything and touch lots of things.




Seth picked this up and said "Look, it's an old fashioned toilet plunger!"

Of course, Zach headed right for the huge mallet-hammer-thingy...he loves ALL tools - especially hammers. If you don't believe me, you should see all of the little dings in my walls and the lovely job he did on the fridge door...but that's another story.



After seeing this old newspaper (from 1941), I was sure glad I had Lasik a few years ago. Apparently, I look better now and I'm sure I'm much more charming! (*wink*)
After we left the museum, we picked up lunch and went to the park for a picnic. The kids loved playing on the playground for a while.

Zach enjoyed eating the limes from our fresh lime drinks.


And here's the only photographic evidence that I was even ON this vacation!


(Meagan took my camera for a while, because she always likes to take pictures whenever she can, and when I was going through them, I saw that she actually caught me in the corner of this photo - in all of my white-legged glory.) Ah, it's nice to know I was really actually there! :o)
After a little bit of playground fun, we made our way over to this cool water wheel - the same one we took photos by when we were down in Washington for Daxen's blessing...that was 4 1/2 years ago - it's absolutely crazy to think that it was that long ago!
Next, we went for a little walk around the park. While we were walking, Zach suddenly stopped and bent down to the ground - "bug" "bug" "bug" - he was absolutely fascinated with the ants crawling on the path and it was all he could do to keep himself from touching them. It was so cute!

So after our ice cream cones, the kids still weren't ready to go back to the condo. We found another park with this cool climbing rock - I still can't figure out how they can have these out in the open, for anyone to use, without huge liability issues. But the kids liked it, so there we played.





Then we did a little climbing around on real rocks.


After that, we called it a day and headed back to the condo for dinner.

Wednesday was still rather cold and windy, so we spent a good part of the day here at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center. The kids loved it!

**I didn't take a camera, since I was also forced to don a swimsuit and join the family in the water (not a pretty sight - you should be very happy you didn't have to witness it), so I stole this picture from the chamber of commerce website.

I love how tired the kids get after playing in the water for hours...kind of. We had to work to keep everyone awake so they would sleep during the night - so, after cleaning up at the condo, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to the Pizza Factory on Ancestor Square - yum. enough said.
Thursday morning was still cold and windy, but we were determined to make use of the hottub one more time - so we did. It was crazy cold...but Meagan and Josh were happy to jump in and out between the hottub and pool, Brad and Seth were content to sit in the hottub, and Zach and I were happy to sit on the pool deck and stick our toes in the hottub.
We considered heading down to Mesquite for one night - hoping for warmer weather so the kids could really swim and enjoy the sunshine...but we decided against it, and opted to finish out our spring break at home, surrounded by freshly fallen snow.
We packed up and headed home a little after noon. The kids slept a good part of the way - so it made the drive seem quicker. We stopped at Sam's Club in Provo on the way home - and then returned to our freezing cold house just before dark. We unpacked the van and pretty much crashed for the night.
Since it was still Spring Break, we decided to continue the "vacationing" even though we were home.
Friday morning we headed to Provo. The kids couldn't wait to go to Kangaroo Zoo again - so we spent a few hours watching them slide, bounce, and run around until we forced them to leave so we could eat lunch. After lunch, we had to run a few errands (involving Brad's new truck), so we headed to Salt Lake. After taking care of business, we decided we needed to do one more family activity, so we stopped off at Thanksgiving Point and spent some time at the Dinosaur Museum.
It was the perfect ending to our week of family fun.
And that is how we spent Spring Break, 2008.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

it's snowing in heber...

I'm so glad I'm not there!!! We're enjoying the sunshine and warmth far away from home...not watching the snow fall in our yard. Hooray for spring break!!




Okay, I'll be honest, it's a little cool and breezy here today so we'll be heading to the indoor pool and doing some inside activities - not a lot of soaking up sun to be done today...but still...it's not SNOWING on us!!

(I had strep throat last weekend, so I didn't get my work done before we left. That meant having to work a bit while we were down here...but it also meant paying for an internet connection for today...so I thought I'd stop in here for a bit too. )

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

101...

Paper Crafts 101...a new special issue by Paper Crafts Magazine...arrived on my doorstep recently!


It's full of fun ideas - all organized by technique or product. If you're familiar with their magazine, you know they have a regular column that's PC 101 - this is very similar in style. Each chapter starts with several mini projects - each project showing a variation of the theme/technique. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to this issue - what an honor - and I am in such great company! Two of my "mini projects" are on the cover - the "bliss" accent, and the little row of flowers with eyelet centers.


And here are a few more projects I created for this issue:




If you're in the market for a new idea book, I'd definitely recommend this one - no matter what your level of skill.



Thank you for all of the sweet comments about Meagan's haircut. She is liking it - especially the less snarly and quick wash/dry/style aspects! :o) She had a similar cut once before, in the summer of 2004. So her hair has been growing for about 3 1/2 years with a few trims along the way. I sure wish my hair would grow that fast!






Tuesday, April 01, 2008

the big change revealed...

This was Meagan this morning - just before walking out the door to school.


As soon as she got home from school, I took her to see my buddy Shana at the salon.
This is the first thing Shana did.


Then she took out her scissors and did this.

After getting her hair washed, cut, dried, and styled, here is Meagan now:


Isn't she the cutest?!?


And now she has two 15" ponytails to send to locks of love. :o)


Lorilee - you are amazing - I can't believe you guessed it!! Send me your address and I'll share some scrappy goodness with you! :o)

a BIG change...

Someone in our family is going to do something BIG later today!
It will be a big change - something that will affect our daily routine.
Any guesses?
Just to make it fun - if you guess what the big change is
(and who it will be happening to)
before I post again tonight, I'll send you a little scrappy prize! :o)

bakery projects...

No, I havent' been slaving away in the kitchen - but I have been baking up some fun projects!

When Heather, from Scrapbook Bakery, asked me to be a guest designer for April, I was thrilled! She sent me an incredible kit to work with. Isn't her packaging the cutest??


I seriously had so much fun using up the coordinating products!! Here's a peek at my projects.







Just FYI, I did add one extra sheet of green cardstock and I used some brown paint to complete my projects Other than that, everything (including the great KI adhesive for the letters) was in the kit.
Don't you just love the colors in this kit? You can go here to find out more!

Thanks for the fun opportunity, Heather! :o)

ETA: That last image (above) is the top of the cube which is included in the kit. Here are some images of the other sides of the cube.