a little bit of me.

{To The Beach...}

Thought the title was fitting for this page - which is currently up as a challenge on the Studio Calico blog here.

Our challenge this week is to use the "negative" of a die cut or punch and create your project around it.  I used the negative space from an arrow cut here - cutting an additional circle around it, then backing it with this vellum and lime cardstock, and finishing it all off with a stitch around the edge.

And I have to say I've pretty much fallen in love with the SC Atlantic Collection.  It was for sure made for my little beach-loving life.  ;)

Products Used on this Project:

InLinkz.com

{Three: N's Mickey Splash Park Party}

So, last weekend "THREE" happened here.  :)

And while I'm not sure that I was quite ready for it myself, we did manage to welcome it with a cute little "Mickey" (what else?!) themed party at our favorite splash park.  (Invites created by me - no template used - with a photo taken last month...)

(Supply Sources: Mickey Balloons, Mickey cupcake toppers, Red Mickey Buckets (bought at a local party store), Blue Mickey Buckets - Walgreens)

The boys were so excited to celebrate - and helped me get everything ready to go the week before...  I love that Noah's birthday kind of kicks off a summer of celebrations, with Ev's bday in July & SO many family and friends with summer birthdays, too!  :))

This party has to have been one of my favorites ever.  Just lots of fun on the slides and in the pool - and we were blessed with a beautiful day!

Noah managed to tell EVERYONE that wished him a "happy birthday", happy birthday right back - which i kinda loved.  He also got into the cupcake and candle, loving that he was the center of attention and dancing in his chair during his whole "happy birthday to you" song.

& Since his actual birthday was on Sunday, we decided to use the LAST day of our spring disney passes and let him spend his day in the Magic Kingdom, riding all his faves, and repeatedly requesting us to "fastpass Buzz next!".

I don't think it gets much better than this at three.

:)

{Last Day}

Seems like we've come a LONG way since the First Day this year.

Last Wednesday was Noah's last day of his cute little pre-preschool class.

He is SO ready for preschool 5 days a week AND the big-kid playground next year.  ;)

Evan's last day of his first round of kindy (he'll do another kindy year next year as a late birthday) was last Thursday...

He's grown leaps and bounds and although we couldn't have known it at the time, we in hindsight made the right choice keeping him in "his environment" (aka the school he knew) x1000%.  It's SO nice when hindsight works out like that.  ;)

Having him in Kindy just across the hall from Mr Noahpants was a huge blessing this year.  I knew it going in, and I appreciated it ALL year, but I'm still sad to see it come to an end.

He officially "graduated" last Friday - and I couldn't be more proud.  We also can't wait for Daddy to watch the video I took & see him dance his way out of the ceremony.  It was AWESOME.  ;)

Happy Summer!  Noah's already kicked it off at our house...!

:))

{SC's June Kit: Roundabout Revealed}

Studio Calico's June kit - Roundabout - is now available...

This is what I made with it.  :)

Disney 2013 - I set this up as a collage on a 12x12 background in Photoshop, then had it printed as a 12x12 at Costco, and added the scrappy middle 4x4 inch square.  Super-Simple and made entirely with the MAIN kit.  If you didn't want to set it up in Photoshop, you could easily just crop 4x6 prints down to 4x4 and adhere on a 12x12 piece of cardstock.

 

First Loose Tooth - Documenting the loose tooth my oldest found earlier in the year.  :)

Hello HHI - Lots of little scraps here and I made use of the new compass template this month - love it!  :)

Mother's Day - my chance to use up all the pink in the kit and that fab washi tape!!! :)

Smile - Lots of paper used here from the happy little moments class kit for next month!

...And that was June - such a great month :))

{HHI}

"I saw 7 jellyfish & 4 dolphin!!!"

...Is what Evan had to tell his class about our weekend in Hilton Head, and I kinda love that.

...I couldn't have asked for a better mother's day.  HHI is officially my #happyplace

:)

{Cupcake Dress Winner...!}

is..........

oh SUCH a fan of cupcake clothing!
what a wonderful giveaway!

Posted by: erika d. | May 06, 2013 at 07:52 AM

*************

Andddd as an added BONUS..... 

& to thank you all for your support of Cupcake on facebook -- I also have a exclusive discount code to offer my blog readers > it's valid for 15% off anything on the Cupcake Clothing Company website now through May 19th, just use:

weinroth

(all lowercase)

*Erika D - Make sure to email me asap with your contact info so that I can put you in touch with Cupcake Clothing Company.

:)

{The Phone Photography Project - A New Class!}

I am so so SO excited to tell you about THIS today...

The Phone Photography Project is the newest online class from Big Picture Classes.  We all know that I LOVE my iPhone for pics (as documented by my Friday Phone Favorites!) - & I was so incredibly honored to be asked to be a contributing teacher to this class - which is really more like a series of workshops, with ALL the topics and various points of view that will be included.

The class focuses on one of my favorite times of year - SUMMER - and making the most out of your camera phone photos.

Summer at our house is lazy mornings, beach days, splash park slides, and family time.  Which ends up being the time of year that I'm most likely NOT to have my "big-girl" camera (aka SLR) with me, and instead will end up using my iPhone 4S as my camera to document the kids and our adventures.

I love that this class allowed me to share MY OWN strategies and techniques with you for getting the most from your camera phone pics - and ALSO that it will allow me to learn from everyone else!!!

Take a peek at this video Big Picture put out to get a glimpse at what's in store - and a list of all of the AMAZING THIRTY-TWO (yes 32!!!) contributing teachers at the end...

((...and if that's not enough))

Here's the "official" class description...

The Phone Photography Project
32 days of Android + iPhone photo challenges, daily inspiration, and app reviews

Need summer photo ideas or help improving your iPhone photography? Spend this July taking amazing photos with your iPhone or Android camera in The Phone Photography Project.

In this month-long workshop, you'll learn to take better photos with the camera you always have with you as you document your summer adventures—with help from 32 incredible instructors. On top of daily smartphone photography challenges, you'll also enjoy:

• dozens of tips and tricks from the pros for taking better photos with your mobile-phone camera
  
• a handbook of 60+ photography app reviews for iPhone and Android, so you know which are worth your time and money*
  
• dozens of project ideas for getting photos off your device and into your world
  
• interaction with 32 experienced iPhoneographers and Androidographers, and hundreds of fellow students in a private classroom and on Instagram
  
• giveaways, contests, discounts, bonus downloads, and fun fun fun!

***The introductory price is $39 (and will go up to $49 quickly) - so if you want to join in, be sure to register asap.  :))

Hope you see you all in class!

{No Better Time...}

than bathtime for a photoshoot i say. :)

So glad i pulled my camera out at bathtime two weeks ago to snap these.

...because things change WAY too quickly.

Since taking these, N's little forehead met it's match with the corner of the coffee table & the DAY AFTER I snapped this E lost his first tooth and we said goodbye to his baby smile.

(no stinky feet in this house!)... Happy Monday Everyone!

Grab your camera sometime today and capture a moment of your EVERYDAY that you normally might not.  You won't regret it.  ;)

{Cupcake Dress Give-A-Way}

Contest currently closed >> WINNER INFO.......

Announced in post above!

***********

I've got such a fun give-a-way for my blog readers today...

We all know I have a weakness for pretty fabrics.  And while my quilting time has dwindled in the past few years, I still love the chance to play with pairing fabrics & prints...  So when one of my best friends - Katie (and also the owner of Cupcake Clothing Company!) - asked me to help her design a new limited edition dress...  I couldn't resist!!!

Cupcake Clothing Company's handmade dresses have so much attention to detail and design - from the layered ruffles & cute buttons to the coordinated rick-rack or trim on each - It was such a blast to share in Katie's creative process as she works on and designs a dress.

This was the result of our collaboration!

I'm a LOT in love.  :)  It's every color that I adore and just looks like summertime at the beach!

And can I tell you cute the name she gave it is --- "Evalyn Noah".  :))  the girlie version of my boys name's combined.  Perfect!

>> That's Katie's little girl in the pics, and when we went out to photograph this dress, I brought Mr. Noahpants along...  He's already officially signed up to be Miss AC's boyfriend in about 13 more years...!

************

So now for the give-a-way part... (YAY!).  Katie will make one of these gorgeous limited edition "Evalyn Noah" dresses for your little girl (or a little girl in your life that you love!) in a size range of 18m, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5 or 6 (please allow 3-4 weeks production time).

To win - simply head on over to Cupcake's Facebook Page and hit the "LIKE" button.  Then pop back over here and leave me a comment that you did!

For extra chances to win, you can:

*Follow them on twitter OR instagram (username: katietartt)... leave me a seperate comment to this post for each of those as well!

*Share the photo of the dress on Cupcake Clothing Company's facebook fan page with your facebook friends & then add another comment here (and another entry!).

I'll announce a winner on the blog here next Friday!  good luck :))

:)

{April Revisited}

Seriously where did the 2nd half of April go to?  I didn't quite believe it when i visited the blog to grab a link for someone on something and realized my last post was April 15.

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to...

*these are all a mix of iphone pics, point n shoot pics, and "Big" camera pics!  ;)

We got away mid-month to Tybee Island for a little wine festival, withouthekids(!!!).  We lived it up while we were there, stopping at what turned out to be a FAB local recomendation for lunch (we felt like official foodies), and then touring Savannah the next day...

We had our first real beach day (or afternoon i should say) of the season.  Bring on summer and endless days of this - the boys & I can't think of a better way to spend our time off!

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom (first for all of us!), rode Noah's new fave the Dino ride, & then met mickey (after being REALLY rained on) -- Mickey's keeping his distance after Noah had a freaked-out reaction to being so close to him.  ;)

We lost our first tooth...

We had our forehead (N) glued back together (last friday) after a coffee-table collision...

We splished and splashed lots...

:)