a little bit of me.

{Studio Calico's June Kit - Paper Moon Revealed!}

It's official.

JUNE IS LIVE!

be sure to grab some Extra SC Paper and More Color as well as your favorite addons!!!

this is what I made with June...

..."Drawing Spaceships" -- bc evan just does that ALL THE TIME now.  anytime he draws something - its a "Spaceship".  The space themed OA paper was perfect here.  As was the Smash folder included in AddOn #4 Space Cowboy - I have some of Ev's original artwork tucked in there.

..."At Three and a Half" - we're really at Three and Three Quarters right now, but who's counting?!  Been wanting to do this for a while.  The papers & embellies this month were perfect for these recent pics that I had printed.

..."The First Nine Months" - the Girls Paperie # brads included in AddOn #2 Ray Gun were the absolute starting point for this page.  When I saw them I immediately thought of my monthly photos and then made a 9x9 (with 3x3 photos) grid print of Noah's first nine months in black and white.  I love that I have this all on one page.

...and finally.... "Thank U" - I used one of the kraft file folders from AddOn #3's Countdown as the base for this card.  I also worked in the Everywhere Punch with Circle Attachment at the bottom, and some Mister Huey's in White and Piglet.

I can't wait to see what everyone else makes with this kit!!!!!!!

:)

{Reveal Day Sneaks!}

Happy Reveal Day to my Studio Calico blog readers.  :)

hope you enjoy these last few peeks at June's Paper Moon Kit...

...The adorable little dog stamp below comes in AddOn #4 - Space Cowboy & I used Staz On ink with it.  I have so many more fun ideas for this stamp - but it just made a cute little tag accent for my layout here.  I also used my brand-new (to me) tiny attacher to staple the smash tabbie in place here - the smash tabs are adorable (but not the sturdiest-most-stay-in-place tabs ever), and the tiny attacher worked awesome for these.

...the "naked" chipboard alpha that comes in the Main "Paper Moon" kit this month is absolutely PERFECT for Zinging! :)  The chipboard can be pressed into embossing ink and then dipped into Zing! and heat embossed for a customizable finished look.  I have a tutorial coming out on the SC blog that is all about Zinging! chipboard - its super easy and you get a fabulous finished look for your page.

I used Blue Zing Glitter on the planet chip (included in the embellie pack in AddOn #2 Raygun), and then also Red Zing Glitter and Denim Zing on the alpha and asterik.

...and finally - on this sneak i used the Fiskars Anywhere Punch (and the circle attachment) to punch my "window" here.  I backed the punched negative circle with patterned paper and then misted with Mister Huey's Calico White and Piglet and machine stitched a starburst in the middle.  I used my butterfly punch to punch from the packaging in the Girls Paperie brads (from AddOn #2 Raygun).

Happy shopping everyone!

:)

{Wordless Wednesday: Cheerio Love}

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(subtitle: we've come so far from this...)

:)

{Sneaks! SC's June Kit}

It's Studio Calico sneak time again on the blog.

And this is just the start of my little sneak-a-thon!

(have something already scheduled to post tomorrow, but I'll be back at the end of the week with more sneaks before the Reveal of the June Kit on Friday!

this is what i've got to share with you today.  :)

...the fabric # brads above are in Ray Gun (add on #2) and what this layout was designed around!

...The smash pocket above that's included in Space Cowboy (Add On #4) ended up being perfect for this layout that I've wanted to do for a while!

...If you own a star punch, you'll want to break it out for use with this kit - along with some trusty foam!

...I ended up surprising even MYSELF - and finding a good use for the ray gun stamp that's included in RAY GUN (add on #2) - and i used Red Glitter Zing! with it.

...and the sneak above was created entirely with Countdown (add on #3) - the Filmstrip stamp included in it is absolutley FABULOUS - and paired with Aqua Zing! here.

:)

{the last day...}

of his 3-year-old preschool year for Evan, that is.

which i find a little hard to believe.  (& it feels like his first day was just yesterday...)

But no, we've come a whole year from this...

To Arrive At This...

And over the course of our school year...

...Evan decided it was cool to actually wear his backpack.  :)

...He also relaxed a bit about wearing a smock in art and painting with his hands (a HUGE issue the first week of school).

...He expanded his take-to-school lunch selection to include turkey sandwich (in addition to the chicken sticks that I sent the whole first half of the year!).

...He started writing his name (still semi-abstractly, but none-the-less).

...He learned how to count to 10 in spanish (plus a few other things), sing the weather person song, and "cook" trail mix.

...Noah packed on another 10 lbs, grew a head of hair, and lost the baby carseat "wings".

...and our house underwent a major renovation.

it's been a busy year.

& we all deserve a fun summer.

hooray.

:)

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ps - the give-a-way post below will be updated with a winner tonite!  and after an insanely busy last 7 days, I will have lots of fun to share on the blog this week - including sneak peeks and projects from Studio Calico's new June kit!  :)

{CK's Fabulous Flowers - A(nother) Give-A-Way!}

Winner INFO: (please email me - button on side bar - with your contact info - thanks!)

I love flowers for scrapping but really struggle with how to use them. I would love this issue. Thanks so much for the chance to win.

Posted by: Jennifer O. | May 16, 2011 at 01:31 PM

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So, I have to say that I kind of like Mondays.  I'm usually recharged from a bit of extra rest (and extra help from eric) over the weekend, I'm full of creative ideas about what I want to get accomplished during the week ahead, and I'm not yet crazy exhausted from what the week will inevitably turn into.  ;)

And I'm excited to start this week off with another blog give-a-way (courtesy of Creating Keepsakes!).  yay.

CK's 'Fabulous Flowers' special edition issue just came out...

...and it's such a fun mix of pages and projects -- all with a common "flower" theme.

And since I don't get the chance to use a lot of flowers with my mostly boy-type-pages, it was so nice to FINALLY be able to pull these out of my stash and slap them on a page!  :)  CK sent me a peek image of my page in the book to include here...

...pics are of my cutie nieces (taken by my sister Kristi).

If you'd like to win a copy of this new special Fabulous Flowers issue - just leave me a comment this week, and I'll pull a winner on Friday.

And if you want to go ahead and grab it from the online store, be sure to use this coupon code for free shipping on purchases over $25 (in the US, expiration 6.3.11): FLOWERBB

:)

PS - I've updated the post below with winner info!

{CK's Creative Spaces - A Giveaway!}

ETA - Winner Info!!!

This looks awesome! I can't wait to check out all the great spaces in this issue!

Posted by: AnitaP | May 14, 2011 at 09:14 PM

Please email me with your address!  :)

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I'm a little bit late to the party on the Creative Spaces Blog Blitz here.

but it's been a CRA-ZYYY week for me.

plus i was patiently waiting on my copy to arrive in the mail.

(and then i found it friday morning in my mailbox!  yay!)

This is CK's latest special issue devoted to AMAZING eye candy types of creative offices and rooms.  I've enjoyed just paging through to get color inspo from some of the decor that's photographed in the mag.  >>>  You can see a sneak peek of the issue here.

And I'm GREATLY in need of a creative space overhaul - when one of the CK editors contacted me last Fall about having my own creative space included in this magazine I literally LAUGHED HYSTERICALLY for about 20 minutes.  It's that bad people.  so.not.kidding.  ;)

so maybe this will be the kick in the butt that i need to do some creative-renovations this summer.  let's hope so!

And I'm giving away a copy to one of my blog readers - just leave me a comment this weekend and I'll pull a winner on Monday.

ps - if you don't win, or can't wait to grab this issue, here's a special coupon code for blog readers that will give you FREE SHIPPING in the US (expires 5.27.11): SPACESBB

:)

{at 11 Months...}

He

is less than one month away from O-N-E.

amazing.  and ridiculous.  all at the same time.

i spent last night putting together his first birthday invite.  which is really going to be mainly family.  very, VERY small.  Bc at one, who needs an all-out shindig?!  but i still wanted him to have a cute invite.  i cant wait to see it when it arrives from my printer tomorrow.  ;)

and so another month - another onesie + quilt + bear photo shoot.  this month is a little wacky though.  If I had more time (& energy) I would probably retake these shots.  Noahpants was most definitely having a BIZARRE hair day, and the color is horrendous.  But so it goes.  ;)

And so - at 11 months, Noah...

...Will only sit still long enough to shovel a few cheerios in his mouth and then he's OFF!  And that's why the copper bucket was brought out for the photo at the top (and bottom) of this post!  ha.  gotcha, sweetpea!  :)

...Weighs 19 lbs, 14 ounces (thanks to a drs visit last week for a pesky little inflamed ear).

...Is pushing away purees and eating more and more table food items - despite his two little lonely teeth.  Pancakes, black beans, eggs, CHEEEEEEEEEESE, brocolli, and cheerios are current faves.

...Naps 2x a day - a longer nap in the am from about 10ish-12ish and then again in the pm from 3ish-4ish.

...LOVES books!  I finally turned him into a reader!  He dives off of the side of the chair after nursing or drinking a bottle to "select" his book.  He absolutely squeals in delight for "Where's Baby's Beach Ball" and "Baby at the Farm".  Karen Katz rules to an infant.  ;)

...Had his first at-home haircut a few days post-11 months - just a little bit taken off over the ears and in the back.  He'll be at Evan's hair lady in the chair (watching cartoons and getting a regular cut) in no time at all.

...Still crawl-scoots everywhere, and does a great yoga-esque downward dog position when trying to stand.  But doesnt stand yet.

...Is still riding around in our infant car seat.  WE must upgrade him soon.

...Has mastered the sippy cup (finally!).  And prefers a splash of apple juice in his water.  And it has truly revolutionized his life.  And mine.  ;)

...Snags evan's toys (that are left out and about) whenever possible.

...Adores Dinosaur Train.

...Knows the word "No".  Which is really "No, sir" in his case.  (We feel the need to differentiate between "No as in short for noah" and telling him no).  And more times than not, he will stop what he's doing, look at me, and smile.

...this has earned him the new nickname "Pesky-Pants Noah".  :)

...Is without a doubt the biggest bundle of energy ever.

...yet is also the CUTEST ever.

xoxo little one.  happy 11 months in our world.  :)

{National Scrapbooking Day!}

Well "officially" it's tomorrow (Saturday).

But we're getting the party started tonight!  yay :)

In honor of NSD, Studio Calico is hosting a variety of challenges to keep everyone busy (& creative) this weekend - you can see them all on the blog.

I had fun pairing up with the very talented Kelly Noel to create a color challenge for everyone -- based on this inspo board that Kelly put together...

...Kelly & I are both "boy moms", and we are each both very color-centric when it comes to our scrapping - so this summery, fresh color pallete turned out to be a REALLY fun challenge to partake in.

So fun that I created two layouts for it (instead of just one!).

The first was the layout that I intended to create - a grid style page with eight different 3x3 sized photos of Noah.

Assembly Details: I started with a 12x12 @ 300 DPI sized document in photoshop and then cropped my photos to 3x3 @ 300 DPI, and arranged as shown.  Then had my 12x12 file printed as a 12x12 photo at Costco (the spaces where my patterned paper went were just white blocks when printed).  I recently wrote a Photoshop collage tutorial for Studio Calico - you can see it here - that explains this process in detail.

Then I just filled in the white spaces with lots of fun patterned papers (Bella Blvd's Game Night paper with the playing cards was perfect!) and embellies (SC's Wood Veneer Hearts, Pebbles Glitter Brads).

...I'd been waiting for the right page to use this ADORABLE new camera stamp from the Lawn Fawn 'Say Cheese Too' set, and this ended up being perfect for it.  :)

...ALSO Used: Lots of leftovers from recent Studio Calico kits, SC's Grove paper (my favorite), Pebbles orange dots paper and lime green pattern, American Crafts paper, Bella Blvd cloud paper & tail waggers paper, October Afternoon paper, Technique Tuesday 'i love you' stamp, Bella Blvd sophisticate stickers, Lawn Fawn 'i heart you' stamp, and my cloud punches.

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The second page uses a couple of 4x6 photos of Evan from our Easter egg hunt last month (and the same color scheme!)...

This was super-simple to assemble - and created while i was "cleaning up" from the first page.  :)  I ended up just using a few strips & chunks of leftover patterned papers from the first page, and arranging them on the base sheet of paper from Basic Grey's new Hello Luscious line.

The cute little Lawn Fawn bunny stamp is from their 'Silly Valentine' set.

...that 'i love you' stamp is something that i just re-discovered in my stash - and it makes a cute little tag accent when you stamp it on scrap cardstock and trim it out and tuck it under an embellie.  :)

Other Supplies: SC's wood veneer butterflies, American Crafts Thickers, Pebbles Glitter Brads, Pebbles patterned paper, American Crafts paper, SC paper, Bella Blvd chipboard, SC stickers.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day Everyone!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with for this challenge...

:)

{Happy Cinco!}

Ole!!!

:)

this is the fourth installment in what has evolved into my year-long documentation of festive photos of the four of us (in the same place in our house).

(I really need to get these all into an album on flickr asap.)

The idea for this round of a photo came about because we had E and N's sombreros already (they were gifts from Eric's cousin last year).  So then when i decided that Eric and I needed sombreros too for the pic - & i took at field trip with the boys one day last week.  And in the process, I explained the concept of cinco de mayo the best that you can to a 3 year old.

And then we hit the cinco aisle at the party store, and started selecting hats, and moraccas, and exclaiming about all the fun & festive cinco party goodies --- my sweet little 3 year old picked up on my excitement and got so into the spirit of all the mexican props himself and then spotted the pinatas on the top shelf of the display and yelled "MOMMA - they have HORSIES up there - WE NEEEEED A HORSIE!!!!!". 

To which I could only say - "YOU ARE SO RIGHT EVAN, we DEFINITELY need a horsie!!!"

And that's how we now own a rainbow colored, fantastically-festive, "horsie" pinata that will live in our house for endless fun and photo ops.  ;)

((& something i never want to forget)) --- During our little cinco-shoot, Noah repeatedly tried to "eat" the pinata.  Like we were pulling endless strings of colored tissue paper out of his mouth.  Evan really just wanted to "ride" the pinata.  I wanted to continue to take cute pics with the pinata.  And Eric seriously just loved that the pinata made Ev and I so happy.  Which is why I love him.

Happy 5th Everyone!  Hope it's full of delicious guacamole and skinny margaritas... and maybe even a pinata!

:)

PS - i have been blog-slacking this week, but i do have LOTS of scrapbooking fun (and NEW PROJECTS!!!) planned to share, starting tomorrow (night) in honor of National Scrapbooking Day (and in conjunction with Studio Calico!) this weekend!  Be sure to check back...