exciting things

My desk is coming along. The wood for the legs is very "green" still so we have been setting them outside everyday in hopes that they dry fast so they can be painted before we bring the desk in. Troy has the top completely finished and now just has to cut and assemble the legs.

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

It is going to be great. I have some plans to put a shelf up above my desk just to house some odds and ends. Things that will be on this shelf include these cool Apothecary jars. I will wait for the big reveal to show you what I plan to put in them.

I'll give you some more sneak peeks into what is going on in my scrapbook room over the next week.

Challenge #11

Alright things are up and running now it appears!

Here is my challenge #11 which was

Tilt your design on an angle



I had an interesting time with this one. I finished it yesterday and just kept coming back and looking at it. I went to bed hating it. I woke up loving it.

I'm not a big buttons type of girl, but I have tons of them (because they do look pretty) and decided I better start using them.

I just drew a frame around the b&w picture with some acrylic paint and a foam paint brush (remember I'm trying to do things I've never done before). I think it turned out cute.

Painted the CHEESE letters with white then went over them with Ranger Crackle Paint.



I had a hard time with journaling. If you go back up and look at the whole page there really is not a good place to journal. Sometimes I just don't want to ruin a page with my yucky handwriting. So I decided on a hidden pocket with my journaling inside. Look at the whole page above and on the right side you can see a little orange tab that says "pull."


I just glued a little envelope under the page and then cut out a white piece of cardstock to stick inside and glued a little tab on it and hid my journaling. Something fun just for Khloe to go back and look at when she gets older, not everyone that flips through her album gets to read it. Just to my special little peanut from her mommy.


Turned out to be one of my favorite pages. I love all the colors.

I have picked a new challenge for the week. Challenge #12 is

Format your journaling as a Mad Lib

Fun, right? We played with those Mad Lib's all the time when we were kids. Now if I can just remember what adjective, verbs, adverbs, etc are I'll be in good shape! ;)

Good news.....things are progressing fast on my new desk!!! Whoot Whoot

I'll share some more pics tomorrow. Maybe even a few of the annoyed woodworker who didn't want me to take his picture. :)

Today was sooo nice. We all got outside and while Troy worked on my desk, Khloe and I raked up some leftover leaves from the fall that we had missed and cleaned up my hosta beds.

Just nice to be outside finally!

makes me happy

My challenge page is done for the week, but since it got dark out before I could snap a good picture of it, I'm going to wait till tomorrow for some good light. So I will post the challenge results and the new challenge tomorrow.

In the meantime at our house my new scrapbooking table is being started!

It has been awhile since my husband has had time to do anything handy. He still really doesn't, but he knows how much I need a bigger table and he really does not want to put one together from Ikea. He hates that place! ;)

I had forgotten just how handy he is. I got my new Pottery Barn magazine this week and started ripping pages out and showing things to him that I wanted him to make. I think he is starting to regret his decision to remind me that he knows how to use power tools.

Oh and be sure and check out my Our Life 365 Days blog. It is finally up to date!

don't want to send flowers?

I mentioned last week that one of my friend's mom had passed away. I wasn't able to make it to the funeral and was so torn up about it. I didn't want to just send a plant of flowers, because that is what everyone does and let's face it, after a week the flowers are gone, and if you are anything like me the plant is usually gone too after a week or two.

So I needed something really meaningful and something that she would have forever to remind her of her mom. I just couldn't think of anything and then all of a sudden it hit me. I raced to my computer and, of course, hopped on the Etsy site. This is what I pulled up.

PERFECT!!!!

I got her this exact necklace (minus the names on it) with an inscription on it and added a little pearl to it too. Francisca @ SilverSpeak was sooo terrific to work with. She got it done in record time for me, since she knew I was in a big hurry to get it to my friend. We worked for a couple of hours emailing back and forth getting it just right and she got it sent out the next day directly to my friend and I believe she got it within 1-2 days. Amazing, right?

Just wanted to pass this on for those of you who are like me and don't want to send flowers or a plant for something. I think this is a great gift idea.

i'm crazy over these

I'm starting to get things together for Khloe's Easter basket. Trying to stay away from a lot of candy so I thought I would just get some little toy fillers instead. I found these Crazerasers at Christmas for her and she loved them.

She only has 2 sets and I had been looking for them again, but I had gotten them at a specialty toy store and hadn't seen them again. We went to Target the other day and low and behold there they were....in with all the Easter toys. So I LOADED up. They are only like $1.39 I think and they can be taken apart and put back together. They are really cute.

I think they are recommended for age 6 and over....but Khloe has never been one to put things in her mouth so she does really good with them. If you have little babies in the house I probably wouldn't recommend getting them, just because when they come apart there are TONS of little teeny tiny pieces.

So she will definitely be getting a set of these in her Easter basket.

Challenge #9....check

Put the finishing touches on challenge #9 last night, which was

Draw inspiration from media

I had a lot of fun with this layout and took a lot of risks, by doing things that I had never done before. I'm pretty pleased with the layout.



It is the first two page layout I have done in a long time. Everything except for the "moments like this" is stamped. I know...outside my comfort zone. I do stamp a lot on cards...but stamping on a page is a whole different story. I kept worrying about screwing it up and not being able to change it. It all turned out great though I think.

Here is a closer look at the individual pages.

I used my smooch ink to dot on some pink to match the swirls around the photo.


Oh and remember this was my inspiration for the page.


Onto starting my challenge #11.

I also wanted to share some good news at our house.

I made Khloe an appointment at the chiropractor yesterday. Took her in and turns out she had a misalignment along her spine which was causing her to have colicky like symptoms. He said it wasn't causing her pain....just causing her nervous system to react differently.

Last night....brand new kid. NO crying, whining, or throwing fits. NONE WHATSOEVER! Let me just be very clear in saying that from the time she came home from daycare to the time she went to bed every single day Khloe cried or whined almost constantly, which is not like her at all, which is why I thought she was getting teeth.

We put her in bed last night (which the past few weeks had been taking at least an hour to get her to sleep every single night with lots of crying) and she was asleep in less than 5 minutes with no crying. She slept all night until 7:30 this morning. She woke up and there was NO crying or whining about getting dressed and leaving, and trust me, usually there is lots of tears, lots of fighting and takes FOREVER to get her out the door. She was soooo cooperative. AMAZING. It makes me wonder how long her back has been out. Poor girl couldn't control her emotions.

We have the best chiropractor...he works miracles. I already sent him a nice thank you. You can't imagine how long it has been since there hasn't been a crying kid at our house. It is a REALLY nice change.

Maybe now would be a fine time to try the potty chair again....since she is so cooperative.

it's time to dance......

WHOO HOO!

My favorite show has begun. I love Dancing with the Stars. With the exception of the last season, I think that is a show that always has a good season. I'll just give you my picks and my ones that I think should have never been put on the show.

I really liked Erin Andrews. Not a lot to say at this point. I think she is good. I think she will go far. I really like Maksim too. They are a good combination I think.

Even though they got slaughtered, I really liked Kate Gosselin (gasp..I know I'm not usually her biggest fan) and I love Aiden Turner (only because I have watched All My Children most of my life).

Of course Nicole Scherzinger is going to be good. I love how all of the people with previous dance experience come on and say "yeah, but it is nothing like ballroom." Oh give me a break. She is good though and Derek (her partner) has always been one of my favorites.

I have had enough Jake Pavelka (the bachelor) to last me an eternity. Everytime that guy opens his mouth I can taste the throw up in mine (sorry to put that picture in your mind). I loved his quote tonight on national television "Proposing to Vienna was the honor of my life." Are you kidding me? Be sure and keep the fasad going for a couple more months, Jake, until you have milked it for all it is worth. YUCK!

Poor Buzz Aldrin...how can you not like him. But he needs to go....right after Jake.

So those were my thoughts tonight....there were a few other people. They kinda fell in the middle for me. I think Chad Ochichino will go far, especially since Cheryl is his partner. Ooh and how could I forget Evan Lysacek. I liked him and Anna.

It's a little too early for me to pinpoint it. Most years I have been dead on...except last season...who could have guessed that disaster.

I do think Erin Andrews and Evan Lysacek will go far...possibly to the final 3. I'll put up my picks next week after I see them one more time.

As for the rest of my evening......

Still dealing with this nasty cold and also dealing with a crying child. She HAS to be teething. She is only this naughty when she is teething. Luckily we only have 4 more to come in. They are the big ones in the back and if her pain is equal to how she has been acting, then they must really hurt. They better come fast cause I don't know how much longer I can deal with the kicking, screaming, crying fits and waking up 2-3 times a night again.

The problem is people keep telling me that the three's are worse than the two's.

I can't wait.

Challenge #10 results and new challenge

My challenge #10 was

Finish a page in 45 minutes

Not happening at my house. I swear I got interrupted at least 10 times. I don't know how long it actually took me to do this page. I do think it was over 45 minutes. So I probably failed this one...but nonetheless it got done.


Once I get my sewing machine I do want to do a few zigzag stitches around the pictures. I really need to get this sewing machine. Right now though I don't have a place for it.

Troy has been working on making my desk. We decided it would be bigger and cheaper if he just built it. Hopefully I will have it posted by the end of the week. I can't wait!!!

I have NOT finished challenge #9 yet, which was

Draw inspiration from media

I know exactly what I want to do now, however I need to make a trip to the craft store for a couple of supplies. I have been behaving with my spending so I am going to splurge a little bit for some new supplies. :) Can't wait for that either!

So my plan for this week is to finish #9 and do #11 this week.

Here is #11

Tilt your design on an angle

Well I think I'm calling it an early night tonight. I'm fighting a cold and all I want to do is lay on the couch. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with this crazy weather.

just what I was looking for

It's been a long week...and it isn't over quite yet.

Thought I would get on Etsy and do a little looking around and came across a little letterpress number 3 I had been looking for at this cute little store. So decided to make a small purchase tonight.



I'm really eyeing the M too.....hmmm