Doodles, Dogs and Bees

Creative Cards Homeschool Kit and some other stuff...

I've subscribed to many card and scrapbooking kits over the years.  But this one beats them all!  I've been buying this one since July.  I believe I learned about it, via Ali Edwards blog. 

So I had 4 months worth of kits piled up.  Hadn't made the time to put them together...  until last week. 

Deena has put together some really pretty cards, with every little detail that you can imagine.  They're very special and I'm excited to start sending them out to friends and family.  The kits are so easy to put together, so quick!  Everything's already cut and printed.  It's awesome!  It's completely brought the joy back to cardmaking for me!

If you'd like to check it out, here's her address:  http://deenaziegler.typepad.com/my_weblog/ .   That huge picture of cards that I made last week?  Most of those were previous kits from Deena.  And it really didn't take a whole lot of time to put them all together.  AND IT WAS FUN!!!  Thanks again, Deena!!

On another fun note, the stamp club girls and I made these cute lil guys last time we got together.  My boys loved them and they're so easy to make.  There's a little chocolate mint in between the punched circles.  So I'm thinking, "How can you go wrong, giving these little spiders to kids for Halloween?"  I'm going to make them for my preschool kids.  And my little resident artist (Scotty) has already volunteered to help me!  (Should be  a fun project for Bee and I and the preschoolers will get a kick out of them too, I'm sure!) 

On the knitting front, I'm done with Clue #2 on my mystery sock.  Planning to do the heal (clue #3) today.  I had sworn off sock knitting, but this project has really gotten me excited about it again! 

I took these to work last week, thinking that I might like to knit on my lunch break...  Just can't get into the groove that quickly, though.  I've always had 30 minutes or so every afternoon too, while waiting in my car for boys to get out of school to knit.  Don't have that anymore either.  So now's the time to practice what I preach!  I've always believed that people make time to do the things that they REALLY WANT TO DO.  Even if you work all the time, if it's important to you, you'll find a way to do it.  We'll see if my theory is true...

We spent most of the afternoon at Hazel's Pumpkin Patch yesterday.  Daddy is out of town on a business trip, but Guh, Umpa, Ron and Noreen joined us.  The boys made a new friend and they had a ball doing all the activities with Noah, who we learned has the same first grade teacher as Bee had last year.  So they really hit if off and Noah stuck with us most of the day.  (His mother works at the pumpkin patch.)

I'm a little nervous about what this coming week holds for us.  Not only am I a new working mom, but I'm a single mom this week also.  With extra activites planned every single day after work and school, it's going to be a very busy week!

Monday- Cub Scout errands and little boy haircuts

Tuesday- babysitter and party at Mandy's house

Wednesday- Parent/teacher conferences

Thursday and Friday- Scouting for food (big, big time committment) and Cub Scout committee meeting...  Scott will be home late Thursday.  The boys and I are off from work and school on Friday, which I think we'll need by then... Scott has a chest CT on Friday. 

And finally Saturday-I'm going on a full day eating-out/shopping trip with friends to Fort Collins, Colorado.  I'll need this too!  lol

Told ya'.  Big, full week ahead!   

What would you do?

On your last day at home as a stay-at-home mom?

Well, I decided to finish blocking my Rosalie Hale scarf and it's completely gorgeous!  And sadly, I didn't magically become Rosalie Hale when I put it on, but I hadn't been counting on that whole-heartedly...  lol

 

And spending lots of time with my other favorite hobby too!  I don't often allow myself time for fun and games, during the day.  I fill my hours with mommy responsibilities.  But the last couple of days, before returning to work, I decided to pamper myself and have some fun! 

The boys are ready.  Scott's ready and I think I'm ready.  Tomorrow begins a new chapter.  Wish me luck!

Me? Scrapbook? Imagine that...

I finally got around to playing with all my scrapbook toys again this past week! 

I especially love going through old picture files and finding something that I haven't scrapped yet...  This photo is from last fall.  He won't wear this hat that I knit for him because he thinks the ties look like "girl hair."  So I'm going to go dig out that hat right now and shorten those ties significantly!  Maybe he'll wear it this year...  Or maybe not, since Guh knit him a Star Wars hat...

This picture is current.  Just a fun shot of a little boy having fun.

 

 

Every time I use big blocks of color, I think of Cathy Zielske.  How does she make such simple layouts look so awesome?  And she has a very funny blog.  If you'd like to check it out, go here:  http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/ . 

I couldn't decide if I really wanted to use a ribbon with a frayed edge...  then I thought, what the hell, it's my scrapbook!  These pictures are also from last fall.

And this shot is two years old.  One of the first days of Kindergarten for Bee.  Just found the picture the other day and wondered how I could have NOT used it already?  Even thought it was so cute, I should make it giant!  Of course I have to admit, this layout is a complete rip-off.  Found it here:  http://kimemories.typepad.com/celebrate_life/2009/09/challenge-think-big.html and had to have it!  Also got to use my new Stampin' Up little tree set.  I knew I would use the heck out of cute little tree stamps!

Success, Kind-of

 I was pretty excited to see that every single one of my entries in the County Fair won a ribbon. And most of them got a purple ribbon, which is first place!! Then I looked around and realized that every open class entry won a ribbon.  And my feeling about that?  What's the freakin' point?  I know they want to encourage everyone to participate, but really, isn't it a contest? 

It's a Good Little House

Scott and I have mixed emotions about our current home.  Living in a small town in BFE doesn't allow one to be too picky when purchasing a home and so three years ago when we moved here, we just chose the house that best fit our needs at that time.  It wasn't a matter of love.

We've toyed with the idea of moving, but we'd have to build our own house, because there just isn't anything here already that we'd like better.  So we sit and wait, here in our little house.  It isn't our style, there are lots of things we don't like about it, but it's a good little house!

County Fair Entries

County Fair Entries, originally uploaded by doo010101.

I think this is it... my county fair entries for next month. I'm entering the red skull mittens for my mother and I still have to decide between the two scrapbook pages. (you can only enter one.)

I hope this is going to be a fun process. In my current frame of mind, I'm really extending beyond my comfort zone to participate in something like this... I hope it doesn't bite me in the butt.

Wish me luck. Judging isn't until end of July. I'll keep you posted.

Feeling a little artsy

I've been thinking about this little art project ever since I bought these stamps.  It's been a while.  The stamp set has been retired for a long time  already...  Finally got down to business last week.  Just took my time and enjoyed the process.  I'm in no hurry...

I love to watch the change in seasons.  There's something about each one of them that I love.  And the little house featured on these stamps reminds me of a little farm house you'd see in Iowa...  It's as if these stamps were made for me...

Not sure where I'm going to hang this little gem yet.  Gotta find a special little spot somewhere...

A few more pages and Friday stuff...

I'm so disappointed in my strawberry patch.  This is the third year I've tried to grow strawberries and they've done nothing!  They've had a handful of flowers and just as many berries...  not even a half dozen.  Big, green, beautiful leaves and runners, but no fruit.  I'm digging them up at the end of this season, because they're just a source of frustration for me!  These were store bought and semi-yummy.  I didn't put quite enough sugar on them, so they weren't quite sweet enough for us, but still yummy...  and almost as importantly, they were pretty!

So glad I got this page done when I did because Will is moving into his own room in the next couple of weeks and this room is going thru a major overhaul too.  Things change so quickly with kids!

Finally getting around to documenting Bee's losing his first tooth.  He was so happy and excited for a kid who was extremely apprehensive about the whole tooth-losing process... 

Love these pictures of Will, dressed up crazy for a school music concert.  Scotty made the art on the background of this page at our art party a couple of weeks ago.  (Scotty's our little artist, seriously getting into anything artsy, creative, markers, paint, messy!) 

And lastly, I felt like it was time to do another interview layout with both boys.  Just want to remember what they were doing and thinking at this age.   They love answering all the questions for me and seriously considering their answers.  Love those boys!  I think this is the third time I've done interview layouts.  It's fun to go back and look at the old ones too.

We're having a great time with our cousin, Devan being here.  He sure is an easy kid to get along with and our boys love him to death!!!!  Not sure what we're going to do for entertainment this weekend...  the weather doesn't look great for Saturday, but maybe get out the giant waterslide on Sunday.  Maybe the arcade and a movie tonight...  That should make all the boys happy...

I'm outta here...  the coffee cup is empty again...

Scrapbooking is new all over again.

I've been having so much fun scrapbooking the last couple of weeks.  I knew I would love it again, if I could just find the time and sit down and do it.

I think it's kinda funny that I haven't had to buy any supplies in over 2 years.  I had been collecting prior to that, for quite some time.  (My husband won't like reading this, but he can look in my office and know it's true.)

Fall pictures are, by far, my favorite to scrap.  It's my favorite time of year, we do lots of fun, family stuff outdoors, I get to use all my favorite colors!  This first page is pictures of our trip to Hazel's Pumpkin Patch last fall.  I think our kids ended up going 3 or 4 times:  with us, with school, with scouts, with Guh/Umpa...  They had fun!  It's hard to get them to sit down and eat lunch there, though.  Too much fun to be had!

I love this picture!  They were playing in the backyard, with EMPTY water guns, during a snowstorm.  Will had just shot and killed his little brother.  They love to play in the snow!

 School pictures from last year.  I really liked how both portraits turned out.  I was really glad I bought them. 

 

 

Love this picture of Dood!  He looks so handsome, wearing the vest that I had just finished knitting for him.  It was the first thing I'd knit him that fit perfectly, so we were both very happy!

And last, pictures of our new, tiny baby garden.  It's been in the ground for 3 weeks now, but we've had unseasonably cool weather and no bugs...  so no peppers or tomatoes yet, but the ones that were on the plants when I bought them.  It's a bummer.  Our little tootsie-pop is very bummed! 

We got our pumpkins in the ground yesterday.  I sure hope they make it.  The seedlings should have been planted a couple of weeks ago.  They look pretty sad, but I'm hopeful.  I don't want to spend $80 bucks on pumpkins this year!  I want to get them out of my personal pumpkin patch!

The boys and I are off again tomorrow to Colorado for the rest of the week.  Got my second follow up with the "skinny" doctor and gotta have the purple car in the shop. (her name has become Lucy.)  Should be fun, hanging out with guh and starting on those Scout socks!

Have a great day! 

I scrapbooked for the first time since last September!

I feared that it would be a long, frustrating process, having not done it in so long...  But I come to find out, it's kinda like riding a bike- you don't ever really forget. 

I found the whole process to be much less messy than I feared and I had a ball.  It was a real catharsis!

Absolutely the best birthday picture ever! 

I've been putting aside little bits of stuff that I wanted to scrap.  And I've been collecting photos for months, knowing the spark would return sooner or later.    

I love, love, love these pictures.  They show completely how fun and wild our boys can be!  And I'm not done yet...  I have a couple pages  swimming around in my head at the moment and components of said pages scattered across my desk...  Just gotta find some play time to put them together.

Just happened to take my camera when dropping off boys at school in February and Bee was in a very good mood.  Love his long hair in this picture!

And what was the spark that got me started again?  This simple little Weekend Creative idea from Ali Edwards.  Simple, quick, easy and special. 

Also worth noting, she has started a new concept, on her blog called Tuesday Tutorials.  She's going to invite other scrapbooking friends/celebrities to post how-to videos for different and new artsy techniques.  This time is Jennifer Mcguire and if you read Creating Keepsakes magazine, you're pretty familiar with her awesome work...  I can't wait to see what it's all about!  Here's the link, if you'd like to see:  http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/06/tuesday-scrapbooking-tutorial-jennifer-mcguire.html 

Mmmm, need more coffee.  That's it for now anyway.  Got so much more on my mind today, but the laundry is calling.  lol