busy, busy, busy

Wowza!  I CANNOT believe it's Thursday already!  Is anyone else's week been on fast-forward?  I've been super busy crafting for my sister's baby shower on Sunday and my hubby's been busy working and farming...yep, it's that time of year again...Harvest Time!  Ugghh...I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to being a farmer's wife :)

Anyway, I did have a couple pics to show you.  I took some shots last evening with my Hipstamatic App on my iPhone.  I just love what it does to my photos, plus they have some new HipstaPaks available.   I downloaded them last night and I'm dying to try them out!  For 99 cents who could go wrong?

My in-laws farm

My husband's new toy ;)

Well, I'm off to cook supper and then it's back to the craft room to finish up for the night.

Bonus:  Grey's Anatomy is on at 8:00...one of my faves!  

Have a great evening!

a peek inside...

As I promised here are a couple of pages from my "Fair Shots" mini album I posted about yesterday.  I wish I would've had more time to complete more pages last night, but I just didn't :(  Please forgive me!


This is the first page of my album...I kept it pretty simple and used some actual ride tickets we had left over.

See the tickets :)

And here's another page...

I used the frame sticker to zoom the eye in on the kids because the picture wasn't taken close up.  I also used a leftover die cut paper piece, a.k.a table scrap, to frame out my title of 'Flying High".  The chipboard clouds also gave the right effect so I added them as well. 

 I try not to use too many dimensional products in my mini albums unless there are plastic sleeves to protect them.  Plus, sometimes they get so thick they don't close very well and I just wanted this to be a less bulkier album.  It was definitely a challenge for me not to use buttons, paper flowers, and thick ribbon in this project, but it did give me a chance to use up a lot of stickers I had lying around which I usually don't use on traditional layouts.  So I guess it all has a way of working out :)

Have a great day!

mini madness

Some of my most favorite things to create are mini albums and here are the reasons why:

1.  They are so stinkin' cute!

2.  They are SUPER easy to make!

3.  They don't require large amounts of product to execute!

4.  They make great gifts!

5.  They can solve a "What should I do with these pictures?" dilemma!

6.  They can be stored easily or left out on the table for everyone to enjoy!

7.  Smaller pictures require less ink to print!

8.  Did I mention that they are so stinkin' cute?!

9.  They are very budget friendly!

10.  Great things come in small packages!

Well, there you have it...TEN reasons to make a mini album for yourself or someone you love.  I'll even show you how :)

First, you want to gather your supplies.  This helps save a ton of time and if you have everything you want in front of you, the less likely you'll feel overwhelmed.  Printing off your pictures beforehand is also a good timesaver.  I chose to use 4"x4" prints from my Hipstamatic iPhone app.

The main ingredients for this recipe are cardstock, letter stickers, a few embellishments, thread, twine, even ribbon will do!  Oh, and don't forget your pics.  

Here are the items I chose for mine...everything came from Studio Calico

Now, depending on the size of album you want is important when cutting your cardstock.  I chose a 6"x6" album so I cut a 12"x12" sheet of cardstock in half to achieve my finished size.  I also cut additional sheets of cardstock for a total of 10 album pages.  Depending on the amount of pictures you have and how you want your album to look will vary the number of pages you need/the size you want to make.  

Next, I scored my cardstock pages in half so they would fold nicely when I lay them together to bind them.  I punched four holes on the score line and used some baker's twine to tie them together...

Here's a look at the inside...

So far, so good...and super easy, right?  Here's another look at the inside with the pages fanned out.

I only had a few sheets of kraft-colored cardstock to work with so I filled in a few extra pages with some patterned cardstock and since it's double-sided, it'll really give it some pop.

I usually never decorate the front of my albums first, but I had a very specific idea in mind for this one so I went ahead and got 'er done...and voila!

 Now all I have to do is fill up the inside with my pictures.  Stay tuned because tomorrow I will have some more tips and views of my "Fair Shots" mini album.

I hope this little tutorial inspires you to make your own mini album for yourself or a loved one.  This is probably one of the easiest and cheapest routes to go as far as mini albums are concerned so get scrappin'!  

back in the swing

Well it's Monday, I'm back home from my tiny trip to visit my best friend, and I've got a loooooong To-Do List...make that a Must-Do-This-Week List!  My sister's baby shower is coming up this weekend and my mother and I are hosting, decorating, and cooking for it.  I'm super excited because I literally started planning for this shower the day she told us she was pregnant!  Not that the shower is a surprise, but everything we're creating for it is still under hat so I don't want to give anything away just yet...but I do have a little sneaky peek for you because I can hardly stand it :)

And here's a few pics from my weekend trip...

  That's my friend, Kelly

 Can anyone guess where this is?

And me, of course!

I had a great weekend up north with my friend and her family.  It was great to catch up and get away for a bit.  I'm glad to be home and feel geared up to tackle anything that comes my way this week while I'm getting ready for the shower festivities :) 

Happy Monday!

weekend away

Hello happy blog friends!

I actually got to get away this weekend (all by myself!) to see a close friend who lives a few hours away.  I really needed some "alone" time and luckily my husband was up for the challenge of keeping all the kids by himself.  Bless him :)

I woke up this morning at my friend's house to a wonderful, yummy surprise...homemade cinnamon rolls!

They were super duper delicious and such a special treat...I feel like I'm on vacation!  I really needed a quick getaway after all of the craziness of last week so I'm enjoying myself and will be headed back home tomorrow.  I gotta gear up for another wild week and my sister's baby shower next weekend so stay tuned because I will have lots of cute, crafty things to show you!

Hope you all have a great weekend, Fall is here!

getting big...

Yesterday I got to spend some time with Jubal and his afternoon Pre-K class.  I can't believe my little man is 4 and in his second year of Pre-K! 

What's even scarier is that next fall, my baby girl, Avery, will be going into her first year of Pre-K!  I'm soooo NOT ready for that...

I'm trying to savor every last drop of these two before they're off to school full time because it seems so much changes after that...

Have a great day!

overwhelmed

Today I'm feeling overwhelmed!  I have so much to do and so much to remember this week that it's making me grouchy and I hate being grouchy.  The kids totally feed off of this too because they sense I'm tense and it confuses them so they behave accordingly (i.e. badly)... Thus, the ugly cycle goes 'round and 'round...ever have one of those days?

I just need to take it down a notch and remember I usually manage to get it all done (at least the important stuff anyway), give the kiddos an extra big hug and kiss, and relax.

This layout I created helps me remember what's important and what matters...

I created this l/o with the current Studio Calico kit, Glee Club.


What helps you remember what's important?

diy match game

Good morning blog friends :)

Today I have a little DIY action for ya...

This is a match game I made for my kids when we traveled to Florida for vacation this past summer.  I made this so they would have something they could play with in the car as well as in the condo.

I used some patterned paper, various Studio Calico acrylic stamps, StazOn Black Ink, Sizzix Wood Sheets, Sizzix Circles Scallops #2 die, Sizzix adhesive sheets, and my Big Shot to make the pieces.

I made a "sandwich" of patterned paper, adhesive, and the wood sheets to run through the Big Shot to cut out the scalloped circles.  Then I used my StazOn ink to stamp the images onto the wood side of the match game pieces.  You could also use chipboard instead of the wood sheets, but I really liked the look and texture of the wood.  I then put them in these cute little tins I found at Hobby Lobby...and voila!

I made 24 pieces and split them between my 3 kids so that in the car they could play with the game by themselves.  At the condo they collected all the pieces and played together :)  It rained several days during our trip so this came in pretty handy a few times.

This was a fun and easy DIY and the kids really liked the stamped images I used for the game.  It was funny to hear Avery say what she thought the images were...she even guessed most of them right!

Hopefully this is a little inspiration for the next trip you take and want to diy something fun for the kiddos...

Until next time, have an inspired day ;)

meet the fam

Here's some recent pics of my family...

 This is my hubby and my youngest son who is four.  There names are both Jubal...

This is my oldest son, Garrison.  He's in the fourth grade this year...

And this is my daughter, Avery.  She's the youngest at 2 years old...She's a mess!

Well, I thought you would like to get to know who most of my inspiration is from and who my subjects are that I scrap about :)  We're just your average Midwestern farm family trying to do the best we can with what we've got...

Happy Sunday to you all!

here goes nothing

One of my new year's resolutions (for 2012) is to start my own personal blog!  I've been wanting to do this for about a year now, but I figured it was too much to handle at the time.  Plus, I had NO clue what I was doing or when I would find time to maintain it.  I've been thinking all summer about doing this a little sooner than planned so here goes nothing... or (hopefully) something :)  Bonus:  I'm actually ahead of my New Year's resolutions???  Well, at least I'm ahead of something...


Just a little bit about myself:


Married for almost six years...(wow, already?)


Mother of Three (two boys and a girl)


Stay@ home mommy


Hopelessly addicted to scrapbooking, cardmaking, music, taking pics of my kiddos, reading, and finding daily inspiration on other blogs, Pinterest, magazines...etc.


Current Obsessions:  Instagram, Hipstamatic, Instax photos, Pinterest, Smash albums, iBooks, and jalapeno poppers (the cream cheese-filled kind)


I hope that, if anything, this blog can be inspiration for your own ideas and projects as well as a way I can receive feedback from you so I can be more creative and inspired myself :) I love to share ideas and information so hopefully you will enjoy this wonderful work in progress with along with me.  Cheers to us!


Here's some layouts I created recently using my Hipstamatic prints I received in the mail last week:

All supplies I used for this l/o came from the Studio Calico September Kit - Glee Club

This l/o was created using mostly Studio Calico kit contents...just some table scraps I threw together...wink, wink.  I painted the chipboard pieces with acrylic paint.

I'm not the best photographer in the world and I need a new camera so please bear with me on the layout pictures...I am currently trying new approaches and any advice would be helpful and much appreciated :)

If you have any questions about any products used in my layouts, please feel free to leave a comment, thanks for looking!

Happy Scrapping!