1. 2 out of 3 kids in this house currently have a fever (not the baby, so far). Atticus is not pictured here because he has been running around like a maniac, unlike Emerson, who has lay in bed pretty much all day,



2. All weekend fun plans got canceled due to item #1

3. Lots of snuggling going on.





4. Emerson thinks dinosaurs are outside of our house at night. She's very concerned about it. But she also says that "Daddy will take care of it." :) Sweet how she knows already that Daddy is her protector.



5. I decided to leave the Christmas lights around our window in the living room because the white lights looked so pretty behind the curtains. All of the other lights and decorations have been taken down. However, I'm still afraid this makes me a wee bit redneck. Or like a college student.

6. Made this little frame for Valentine's Day. Used the new My Mind's Eye Valentine's papers, Fancy Pants felt, an assortment of flowers, some bling, some lace, and a Creative Cafe` button. Fonts are here and here.

I used this technique for the flowers, and I really like the look that it came out with.





It says:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

(1 Cor. 13:4-7, MSG version)

7. Atticus is really cute. He's also a complete handful. He likes to sing "Go Diego Go."



(This is more for his adoring fans rather than for cinematography awards. Sorry for the darkness... but his voice is pretty cute.)


And this is just silly:


8. This should be cool:

...[the] We {heart} Journaling article mentions that every day in February, there will be a journaling exercise...on shimelle.com. Yep, every single day! (I’ve even learned how to load everything up early so, fingers crossed, it should work even without internet in our house every day!) So if you want to follow along, you’ll have 29 pieces of writing by the end of the month…that you might like to turn into 29 layouts or art journal entries or blog posts or pages in a diary. The artsy part is totally up to you. But every day there will be something to focus your pen on making it easy to write something that sounds polished. To find your voice. Which makes me all giddy, just thinking about it. I hope some of you will join in. After all, it’s a great excuse to go buy or make a pretty notebook. And I know how you like pretty notebooks.

You can check it out here: shimelle.com

Got a few little projects to share that I've been working on...

This is a little mailbox from the Target $1 spot that I decorated, using the February Crop Addict kit:






Here's a layout I did for Scrap Etc. using the new Valentine's line of papers from My Mind's Eye, plus a little of the lace paper from KI Memories, and an assortment of labels from Daisy D's, Fontwerks, and Heidi Swapp. There's also some rubons and chipboard from American Crafts, Heidi Swapp bling and a flower from Creative Cafe.







I got this about a month ago from Scrap Etc.'s Creative Cafe` section... it sat on my desk, waiting to be used for something special.





I noticed there were 12 tabs on the side of the album, and inspiration struck- a mini journal/album recording our activities each month.



I'm keeping it pretty simple and just trying to record a sentence or two each day; I just want to be able to preserve some of this time when I have three little ones... all the funny things they do, the sweetness they bring into our lives, and the everyday chaos.





I want to add in a stamped section each month of "What God is Teaching Us" and "Places We Went," but I haven't sat down to do those yet... hopefully tonight!

This is the next project I want to tackle... I made this album at the end of November to record our December and the joy of the season and all that stuff, but alas, I did not. The insides are already decorated with coordinating paper to the cover (Fontwerks), so I just need to add my photos and journaling. Fortunately I've got my blog and my calendar to refer to with all our activities last month, and my photos are organized in folders on my computer into months, so I can just go into that folder to print off everything I need.



And since today is FRIDAY, make sure to check out TwelveFridays :)

they are running this special:

"We are going to have a special that runs Feb. 1st and it goes as follows:

If you join and get a friend to join with you we will give you your shipping free! And you can get as many friends to join and that will extend your free shipping. So if you get 6 friends to join you get 6 months of free shipping! Yah! :) And your friend can choose between free shipping or a surprise goodie pack with their kit. The only catch is you have to email us at twelvefridays@gmail.com and tell us who referred you so we will be able to keep track of it all for you. And if you are already a kit club member this works for you too...you just have to get a friend to tell us you referred them after they signed up and you will get your shipping for free. "

Here's a full view of the first kit

Happy Friday everyone! :)

(With a friend.)

[I found this when I went to the bathroom the other day. I couldn't resist taking pics of it. Hee hee)

Yesterday I got to get a little "pick-me-up" and have a day to get my hair cut & colored. :) I put my hair into the hands of the marvelous Kari Ann and told her to do something with it. I trust the girl- and I don't trust many with my hair. (Isn't she the cutest?)

She decided to do a PM (Paul Mitchell) Shine treatment on my hair, and did some dark brown with red/violet hints. I LOVE it. The color is so rich and shiny, and when the light hits it, you can see all the marvelous red. Super cute. The bonus is I don't have to go back to get roots touched up or anything because it will eventually fade out in a few months.

Her plans got changed a little bit with what she wanted to do with my hair, but as the artist she is, she still made this mommy feel funky and cute and fresh. I looooove it. It's got a lot of versatility to it, too- I can do it sleek or flipped out or all "big" and punky.



So- if you are in the greater Birmingham area, give Kari Ann a call to do your hair. She styles at the Shine Salon (it's a Paul Mitchell Focus salon) in Trussville. The prices are very reasonable ($35 for a wash/cut/style, I believe; $35 for the shine treatment; other color stuff starts at $85). The number there is 661-3331.

The Hubs was chastising me for not updating in so long, but unfortunately, I don't have tons to say. Not in an overwhelmed sort of not having anything to say- just that life is its normal, chaotic, but routine, self...

We made two doctor's visits this week, one for Em to get Dermabond (instead of stitches) because she bumped her noggin. The girl seems like she's got my grace and coordination, poor thing. The other visit was for Sabriel's one month (!!!!!) check-up and Atticus' 18 month check-up, even though he's 20 months. They are both super healthy. Yay!

Today we played in our mini snow-storm. Emerson kept asking where Santa Claus was. She also was very surprised every time we walked to another part of our yard and there was MORE snow. Hee hee

Atticus HATED getting his hands wet and cold, so the second that happened (after about 10 minutes outside), he melted down (hehe) and went back inside.

Mainly, I'm just glad for the photo opportunity because heaven knows I don't get enough cute pics of my kids as it is. (tongue in cheek, y'all!)




Here are my layouts for the February Kit at Crop Addict. You must check it out! There is SO much stinkin' stuff in these kits. I've done 5 layouts and 2 projects (I still have to take pics of those) and I still have loads of stuff leftover. I loved that this month's kit had such a variety of colors that I could do some really girly ayouts for Sabriel and Em, but also be able to do some more "manly" stuff (hehe) for Atticus. Here are a couple of other layouts that I did- one for Scrap Etc. and one just for the heck of it!
Okay, well, I'm done with the computer for the day... time to curl up with the babies and do some snuggling. :) Stay warm, folks!

Labels: Crop Addict, kids, layouts, pictures

For those of you who asked, here's a little bit more info about Twelvefridays Kit Club...

Twelvefridays is a new kit club owned by Heather and Heidi of A2Z Essentials (although this is not a part of that company). It includes exclusive paper designs that you will ONLY be able to get through this kit club (the papers will not be available anywhere else). There will be two kit options- one that is just the papers, and one that is paper and coordinating embellishments.

(For those of you unfamiliar with scrapbooking kit clubs, this is a way to purchase pre-coordinated and exclusive products that come shipped straight to your door. You get the benefits of a design team that do different layouts and projects with the same kit so that you can get inspiration for your own creations from the kit. Plus, it's just plain fun to get a box full of scrappy goodies!)

You can see sneak peeks of some of the papers here:
twelvefridays blog

And the new website has a post today that has photos of the papers:
twelvefridays website

I'm especially excited about this journaling paper- how cool is that?!!

The full kit reveal will be up on Monday, so make sure you go check it out!

Labels: 12Fridays

Would ya look at that....

TwelveFridays' Design Team...

Labels: 12Fridays

(Atticus is not seen in these pics because... well, he didn't want his picture taken. hehe Well, except for his toes.)

Adrienne- these baby feet are for you. :)

Labels: kids, pictures

1. Give birth
2. Get stomach virus
3. Get really gross cold that leaves you hacking and coughing to the point of getting headaches.

Bleh.

I'll be back soon when I can gather a few more coherent thoughts together.