mary quite contrary

One of the dear lizzy questions:

-What are your favorite etsy stores? I love seeing what other people find on there! :) Alison

My favorite was recently opened by Mary, my bestie since junior high school, she opened up a cute headband shop. check it out!

Still pretty chilly here... that's why it kills me when Mary tempts me to come see her with texts like, "It's 85 degrees and I'm eating a snowcone." That's just mean.

Isn't she the cutest soccer mom?! And her boys are adorable-my future son-in-laws. ;)

Like I said, she's been my best friend since 7th grade-- days of braces, prank calling boys & cheese fries from Big H. Can't believe we are moms now. crazy.

(love ya mary!)

Other favorites:

Evalicious

Second Sister

Handmade knits: Beautiful Bridget

Cool Prints: Farouche

Fairytale charms

and don't forget Mary's stylish shop

guest blogging

I'm a guest blogger over at Ali Edward's blog.

I may or may not have jumped up and down when she wanted me to share my storytelling frames.

Check it out...

blissful day

Hope you had a great weekend!

Here's some pages using my Dear Lizzy goodies.

It's kinda funny to design pages with rub ons of my handwriting.

Can I let you in on a little secret... I'm not a huge fan of my own handwriting. (gasp) I honestly have always had to stretch myself to use it. Which just goes to show that it's quite natural to not appreciate our own chicken scratch. Let go of those insecurities and embrace it. That doesn't mean all of our journaling needs to be handwritten but just enough to leave a piece of us on our pages.

I've grown to love adding the unique touch of my handwriting and have learned to see past the worries of it ruining my pages to the sentimental factor it adds.

Love the phrase rub on, "follow you bliss" on pages of my girls. Incredible things can happen if we live by those simple words.

love the chipboard dresses... fab selection of Dear Lizzy at Blue Moon.

Happy Monday!

q & a

Hi,

On your desk is a little basket of mini albums. Do you modge podge them or seal them in any way to protect from dust or are they left as is?

Thanks,

Jacquie

Hey Jacquie,

Thanks for the question... Some of them have modge podge on the covers but most of them do not. I haven't had any trouble with dust while they are in the display. I'm more worried about when the kids grab one to look at it. I'm happy the girls want to look at them but some of the albums are fragile so I just make sure to supervise. ;)

-What do you do with the pictures you do not use for your scrapbook?
Paste them into an album? Or keep them in a photo box?
And what do you do with your Polaroid? Use this for your scrapbook?
lots of greetings from Belgium,
Sophie

Hi Sophie,

I have lots of places where my photos are stored. Most of them are on my computer or, yes, in a photo box. But when I do print them out I slip them in an American Crafts photo protectors and mix them in with scrapbook pages.

Yes, I use polaroids in my scrapbooks but mostly they are hung around my house. here and here.

-Hello Elizabeth! What does your scrapbooking room look like? How do you organize? I have always wanted a pictorial tour of your scrap booking room!!!
Thanks! -Valerie

Good idea! Yes, this is at the top of my blog-post list.

Dear Lizzy,

I just have to gush for a minute. I got your book and love it! Pages are ear-marked. It has sparked my imagination and I have been challenged to create in a whole new way. Thanks so much!

So here's my question.....I am outgrowing my digital Canon PowerShot and was wondering what kind of camera you would recommend? Many of my girlfriends have upgraded to cameras like Nikon, but I am overwhelmed with what I need. Can you help?

Nicole Kailiuli

Thanks Nicole,

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying my book!

This is a *popular question* I use Canon 50D and my favorite lenses include 35mm 2.0 for portraits and 24-70 2.8 for everyday photos because it has a zoom. It's a little heavy but I love it.

I would recommend the Canon Rebel for a step up from the Power Shot. It's what I used when I started learning SLR and manual. I think you'll enjoy it!

I buy all my camera equipment from B&H photo. They have great prices.

under the weather

Feeling a bit under the weather.

This rain cloud mobile lifts my spirits. (Butter Flying etsy shop.)

So does this stop motion commercial by Amazon Kindle. The song makes me so happy.

Song: Stole My Heart by Marcus Ashley and Annie Little. You can download it for free HERE. (thanks Lynette!) The first commercial with Annie Little and the song Fly Me Away is cute too. I added that song to my playlist if you wanna take a listen.

Here's another video with the lead singer of A Fine Frenzy, Alison Sudol. Directed by the same talented folks Ithyle Griffiths & Angela Kohler.

Happy Wednesday!

Spark No 2

Just blogged over at the SPARK site to announce the dates for Spark No 2. I honestly get so giddy thinking about the next one. Mark your calendars... September 10-11 2010.

Check out Spark's new digs & new look!

If you want to be involved with Spark as a sponsor or as a Show & Telller email us at SPARKtheEvent@gmail.com

gazoontight

What was that bright light in the sky over the weekend? Oh, that was the sun... I've missed it. We headed over to the farm to enjoy the nice weather. Which was fun except I learned not to buy a treat to eat there... unless you like the delectable scent of cow manure. ;)

This hunk... yes I said hunk. Which is short for hunkalicious. Anyways, he has a mohawk. I styled it the other day with my flat iron. haha. Funny that he let me do that since my own daughters won't even let me comb their hair. Not even when I offer yummy bribes.

Clearly, I am not the best blogger when it's past my bedtime... I should post when I'm a bit more coherent. Then I would be less apt to share this next fun moment at the farm-- when a goat whom we'd just fed a fresh handful of corn... & the only thing between us was a wire gate... sneezed all over me. I screamed because I was frightened (goats sneeze rather loudly) then wanted to die when I looked down at the treat he left on my coat and camera.

I did get the shot though.

Happy Monday!

brightens my day

About 7 years ago I think I told Collin not to buy me flowers because they are a waste of money. What was I thinking? Thank goodness he never listened to me.
Because I take it all back. :)
If I'm going to stand at my kitchen sink for many hours of the day it might as well be beautiful too. breakfast... second breakfast... lunch... rinse repeat... dinner.
The tiny vases are from Target and other random ones I've collected.

If you don't have any small vases, here's an excuse to buy some Orange Crush or your favorite soda pop. Cheers!

PS Thanks for the fantastic questions. I am excited to start tackling them this weekend! Feel free to add to them. elizabeth.kartchne(at)gmail(dot)com

dear lizzy q & a

I think I might have been in denial about my Dear Lizzy column in CK. It was so so fun and surreal for me, being a reader for years, to have my own article. I loved it. Creating Keepsakes made some changes to the magazine but I am still a Contributing Writer for them. yay! With three pages in a fun article coming up so keep your eyes peeled.

I've been thinking that it would be quite fun to continue the Dear Lizzy question and answer format on my blog. Not just because I purchased a cute, new folder that I am anxious to fill. Mainly, I enjoy hearing from you, love finding solutions, offering support and answering questions.

So, here's how it works:

-Think of a question. (Any sort of question, it could have to do with a past project I've shared here, scrapbooking, photography, blogging, life, crafts or anything. Well, not anything. ;)

-Email me your question: elizabeth.kartchner(at)gmail(dot)com

-If I choose your question for upcoming blog posts you will receive happy mail from me... because a little bribery never hurt anyone.

I'll start of with a popular question:

Dear Lizzy,

... I remember a while back when you posted about painting your scrapbook room and you posted the color. However, I can't seem to find it. Would you be so kind to tell me the name and brand of the paint you used. I would love to use that color in my laundry room. And I am actually feeling inspired at the moment to get off my booty and give my laundry room a makeover. I would love to hear back from you.

Keep up the awesome work!

Chrisanna

Hi Chrisanna,

It is my favorite paint color! Made by Ralph Lauren called Sun Washed Blue. Purchased at Home Depot. Thanks.

Can't wait to read your questions!

flutter

I thought for this post we could take a break from the regular programming of Lizzy products ;) and share a quick page with Hambly goodness. Photos from a fun day at the carnival... she was overwhelmed by it all. The big smile was taken right after we went down the huge slide on potato sacks.

Not only is she ridiculously cute but she has impeccable timing. It seems that when I'm taking a photo of something she wants to check it out too.

excuuuuse me.

Hambly: Pink Butterfly Overlay, Metallic Woodgrain, Bird & Branch sticker

painted piggies

The sun was smiling down on us today so we went outside to paint our toesies pretty.

Just a few links to some kits that are selling Dear Lizzy products:

Mosh Posh Kits, The Treasure Box kit & Cherry Banner from Blue Moon. Blue Moon has quite the dear lizzy selection including the fabulous fabric paper.

Thanks for your comments about the grocery store pics--Collin makes life quite an adventure. Have a fun weekend!

thinking pink

Not quite certain the reason I love pink at the moment. It could be chalked up for the following reasons:

A. I'm dreaming of spring.

B. I read Pinkalicious umpteen times a day.

C. I have two little girls that eat, drink, sleep pink.

D. All of the above.

Jcrew shirts, shoes, necklace. Instax camera that goes with me everywhere. Choose The Right print by Sugarfresh on etsy. Thanks to my sweet Spark sister who gave me the Pinkalicious book at a CKU class I was teaching at-my girls love it.

Collin took this photo late last night or early this morning when our nephew arrived.

Hayes Russell Frame. So happy for Emily and Russ!

price check on aisle 4

Remember my nerdy snow angel pictures and I challenged you guys to take some self-timer photos. Well, it only gets worse folks...

Saturday night was date night.

Which means that the couple short hours where we are not taking care of kids is an excuse to act like kids.

Hence, taking photos with Strawberry Nesquick & a pineapple.

We choose the less trafficked aisle... the juice aisle. Only a few people came through to pick up their prune or apple juice. I don't think anyone noticed my camera mixed in with the Hot Cocoa but I did get a couple strange looks. Which actually was nothing compared to the strange looks we got when Collin was blaring Lady Gaga and driving through the parking lot 3 times with the windows down hollering, "where da club at?" to a group of teenage kids. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was worse. When it came down to it, it was much easier to ask him to pose at the grocery store after the crazy parking lot episode. Yes, I was ducking and hiding in the passenger seat at the time.

We took three quick shots at different levels of the shelves to get the whole dorky scene. Then layered them to create one dorky photo. Definitely fun because I will never forget this night.

Tweet #936: Then I hitched a ride to the car... that's what happens when you go grocery shopping in heels.

all things grow with love

A quick page share of my silly sunshine.

Kept it simple and structured. While using a couple of my staple punches.

You know those scrapbooking tools that you can't scrap with out. The scalloped square punch and scalloped circle punch. Love them.

This page also follows #20 of the challenges in my book... to scrapbook "in a grid."

What I enjoy about this design is layering all sorts of embellishments and photos while keeping it neat and tidy. :)

Everything on the page is Dear Lizzy yumminess. The top flower is my favorite combination... punched circle from the lace paper, paper flowers, tulle, and fabric brads. Crate Paper is one of my favorite paper companies and this scalloped background paper was perfect.

The yellow sticker at the bottom of my page says, "all things grow with love." Don't you love that? That's a fun part while designing Dear Lizzy products-choosing the right words and phrases to translate the feel of the line.

happy monday

nerd angel

Woke up to SO much snow.

I know it is crazy that I'm about to say this but... I like the fluffy, white stuff.

Which leads to our next topic of conversation. How big of a nerd I am for making a snow angel while the kids were napping. But the snow was beckoning me...

It actually was quite relaxing... if you like to freeze your tooshie off while relaxing.

The girls are going to be jealous but we can play when they wake up. Because let's face it, this snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Collin would have gasped had he seen my jimmy-rigged tripod to our front banister. You should take a self-timer shot this weekend. You don't need to risk you camera's safety like me. ;) They are freeing and fun. I have a remote but there's something about the 10 second run to get in the frame that adds to the excitement-or the dorkiness.

rule #462

Never leave the house with out this pink, fuzzy blankey in my chipped nail polish grip...

If you do, be prepared for a friendly reminder and possibly not-so-friendly reminder every 5 seconds that you forgot it. "momma... bankey. momma... bankey"

Big thanks to the Dear Lizzy March sponsors:

Blue Moon Scrapbooking: great supply of dear lizzy goodness

Shey B: stylish camera straps

Evalicious: Fabulous memory art kits

Peachy Cheap: Awesome deals-a-day

Magpie Kit Club: cute kits

Totally Rad Actions: photo actions

Studio Calico Kit Club: great kits incl. dear lizzy

I wanna fly

I wanna fly mommy! I wanna fly... is what she calls out as she flaps her arms and jumps off the couch! Wishing so much that I can say,"Yeah, you can do it." But since I don't have any pixie dust and you can't just think of a wonderful thing I have to explain to a 3¾ year old the facts of life... that only birds, airplanes & pteranodons can fly.

Thank goodness Daddy's good at pretend flying her around the house.