lola bug mini book

A little book for our lola bug. Yesterday I snuck away into my office and put this together.

Creating my own minis from chipboard takes a bit longer and they don't always work out like I hope but I usually have fun in the process.

I do love how this little book turned out. The book is two pieces and the back is scored and folded to the front then attached to the cover that is also scored so it will fold open. The glassine bag pages are secured to the back cover. I wanted to be able to see the back cover since the papers look so cute together.

You know I love you blog readers since I froze my tooshie off outside getting a picture of this book in my fancy photo studio. I must have been literally shaking since half of the pictures were blurry. But here are some shots.

There are 10 glassine bags inside that are decorated with ribbons, stickers & rubons. Each one is filled with photos, instax, & notes from everyone in our family. And each one feels like you are opening a little present to find a note and pictures inside.

The 'find you be you' is my handwriting turned into a rubon for my Dear Lizzy Enchanted line. This simple mantra is something I've included on a scrapbook page or a book for each of them. I hope I can teach them how to live in such a way as they grow. How sweet is Avery's drawing holding Lola's hand? The shape next to them is a heart. Love.

The papers are Crate Paper's new line Emma's Shoppe & Neighborhood. I can't wait to get more of these lines when they are released.

Paper, Stickers, Ribbons, Journaling Cards: Crate Paper

Rubons: Dear Lizzy + AC

Instax polaroid camera

thanks Santa

I'm really glad that I was a good girl last year, because Santa wrapped up and placed under the tree the glitter heels I put on my Christmas list.

They are the perfect look for sweeping, washing dishes & baking cookies.

(using the camera remote again)

Not to mention they are quite glamorous for reading books.

I think Quincey likes the glitzy pumps because she can definitely out-run me when she sneaks an extra cookie. Thank goodness Collin finished up the last batch... not because my feet hurt & I had to sit down or anything. Promise. ;)

this moment

sign by Robert Montgomery

This very moment everything feels right. And real. And sad but comforting all at the same time.

Quincey and I are sitting in Lola's nursery on the world's comfiest chair with my laptop. She's a bit sick which also means she's cuddly.

I just got off the phone with my little brother who lives only 15 minutes away that I miss dearly and had to call him. Today is a special day for our family because it's remembrance day of our dad . (My cute sis-in-law termed it "Remembrance Day". I never had a word for today, but when she said that it melted my heart.)

Collin is in the other room playing the piano and singing the perfect words for this very moment. It's not a coincidence... he's done that before... singing just what my heart needed to hear.

To think I might not see those eyes

Makes it so hard not to cry

And as we say our long goodbye

I nearly do...

Even if you cannot hear my voice

I'll be right beside you dear

Run sung here by Leona Lewis

Miss you daddy.

one on one

Since these days I am outnumbered by 3 growing-much-too-fast munchkins it's nice when two from the lollipop guild are napping and I can have some one on one time.

That's when we got out the camera remote.

You can tell by the photos she had fun because the tighter the squeeze the happier the girl.

Hello Monday. Here's to another week!

princess lola

Last week was Lola's baby blessing. A tradition to receive a special prayer from Collin & an excuse to dress up like a princess.

All three of our girls have worn this dress that was made by Collin's mother. It's raw silk and has beautiful lace details. At first I wanted everyone to have their own dress but now it's so sweet that they all have worn it.

Our whole family came to our church that day and then over to our home for a small luncheon. The grandmas are both clearly smitten by this sweet baby.

In other news: I am so tired of the above decals on my wall. I want to paint or even wallpaper instead. But that wall is vaulted and goes over a wall into the other room. I guess it's hard to explain.

I am just tired of those decals. Any ideas? Here's a picture of what the vaulted wall that it connects to in the other room looks like. here.

Hope you're having a nice weekend!

pay no attention to me... just rambling

I've started this blog post several times all rambling on into different directions. Then I highlight it and click delete. Although it was good therapy for me, here I am still with nothing written in this post for you to read. Hmmmm, let's see...

I guess I could tell you how I got sucked into watching this season of Bachelor. I've never watched the show before but I got pulled into the drama.

Or I could tell you how I'm proud of myself lately for making homemade rolls and bread and a braided pastry. I am still learning and I'm just happy the stuff is edible. haha. But tonight I made a braided bread with creamy chicken/broccoli inside. How domestic!

Or how I'm happy I just found out I can change the settings on my macbook to just tap the trackpad instead of clicking. What in the world? My lazy self loves this!

Or my favorite moment with Collin today, he was dancing for a second while I was intensely working on a minibook. He asks, "Do you wanna know why I'm so perky?"

"Uh, why?"

"Because I just fixed the garbage disposal." His celebrating continued... Laughing cause I've never heard him say the word: perky.

Or how I have listened to this talk by Dieter Uchtdorf many times and it really speaks to me. He says, "There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity."

Or I could tell you how I spent today working on a mini album using MME that I'm teaching in Paris, France. Yeah, I just pinched myself and I'm not dreaming.

Or I could tell you how I was up at 4 am with Lola and despite my pounding, tired headache I honestly love every second with her. Oh my goodness-I cannot get enough of this baby!

I know I have been selfish about sharing photos. Please forgive me for keeping those cheeks and all those rolls to myself.

Where has the week gone? Happy Friday!

Above mini album uses all My Mind's Eye Lost & Found line. It's really a beautiful line.

kids craft idea: Heartstring magic wands

Whenever I am (im)patiently waiting in a doctor's office I flip through a Family Fun magazine because they will often have a fun kid's craft idea. For February they showed how to make yarn hearts. They were cute but I knew I would end up throwing them away as soon as we were done. So I took the idea a step further and made magic wands with the hearts that way they can enjoy the craft when we are finished. Since it is still pretty cold here to play outside we are looking for anything to fill our time during the day.

You need basic supplies you probably have around your house.

To make the hearts: ·yarn ·cookie cutters ·1/4 c. cornstarch or you could use watered down glue ·wax paper

How-to MAKE THE HEARTS: Heat up 1/4 c cornstarch with 1/2 c water over medium heat until it is translucent. Wait until it cools before starting. (I used watered down glue, since that's what I had on hand & it worked great.)

Cut yarn into 12 inch pieces and have the kids dip into glue and then place into cookie cutter heart or any other shape. It takes a while to dry so if you want to speed that up--set them in the oven on parchment paper set to warm for an hour or so.

How-to make the MAGIC WANDS: I used lollipop sticks that I had on hand, tulle, ribbon, jewels, sequins and pearl strings. If your daughter is old enough she could help with this part but I used a hot glue gun and threw it together in a couple minutes.

The girls were so excited to play with their princess wands they hardly even let me snap a photo. The craft kept them busy while we made it and busy playing after=happy momma.

a green thumbs up

(because a brown thumbs up sounds icky. ;)

Did you know I can not keep a houseplant alive? Every time we go to Ikea and make it through the mouse maze I grab a couple of those plants... and every single one of them dies. All they require is water... and some sunshine but the windows take care of that. A pretty simple task that I fail at repeatedly.

I don't know what made me think of that. I guess I was looking at these photos of Collin and thinking how our love has grown and grown. I guess I wanted to spare you from my gushy essay on 'what love means to me' and instead share thoughts about my tragic brown thumb and the fact that I could probably kill silk flowers if that were possible.

page from my book. "52 more Scrapbooking Challenges."

But at least I know I can grow love. That's what really matters on this Earth. Who cares about plants anyways? I mean they are a source of oxygen, who needs that? ;)

Instead of gushy words I leave you with a cheesy, animated card I made for Mr. Kartchner. Because he thinks my photoshop skills are sexy. (Be Mine.)

Page Supplies: Two Peas: Swanky Labels; Jenni Bowlin: Rubons & Paper; American Crafts: Flair, Heart, Paper

Misc: Fabric, Tag, Spray Ink

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

quick + cute

This post is going to be quick which can also be said about this simple craft idea.

Ribbon flags. I threw these together for Lola's baby blessing on Sunday. I needed something... anything... and I remembered seeing these somewhere online for a wedding. So I grabbed some ribbon, buttons, rhinestones and lollipop sticks. As much as I wished these were lollipops on top the ribbons would do.

Gather ribbon, buttons, rhinestones and lollipop sticks. Cut about 6 inches of ribbon.

Fold in half. Loop one end and pull the other end through.

Cut ends to look like flags. That's it!

It was so quick I didn't even give Collin the chance to say anything like, 'why I are you making those'... 'waste of time'... blah blah blah... ;)

I added the jar to my mantle with the jars of hearts.

Happy Friday from us.♡

meet doedee & matthew

Avery has been wanting "a pet" for a while now. I blame this Elmo's world movie. But thank goodness she didn't choose a pony & instead a fish. I was okay with a fish. Small food = small poop.

Being the good mother I am ;) I sucked all the bribery out of the reward, "if you clean up your toys you can have a fish... if you eat all your dinner you can have a fish." Then I knew I needed to fulfill my end of the bargain.

So, finally, yesterday she became the proud owner of Doedee & Matthew. She carried her fish bowl around everywhere so I took an instax photo of it so she could carry that around. That was a good solution for her... and the fact that the fish bowl splashed in her face once. yuck.

The clerk at the pet store even had Avery sign the dotted line for her pets. ha!

short-term memory loss

Remember that one time I gave away a pretty necklace from Ruche? I know you probably forgot since it's taken me forevvvvvveeeeer to post the winner. I was waiting on Collin so you can blame him. haha. He owes us a funny post and, believe me, I will not forget it. But he did clean up the kitchen this morning so I can't be too hard on him.

Congrats to Anna Culp...

inside the heart jars

Inside the heart jars:

❥ Instax + Love notes

❥ Plastic Hearts

❥ Heart Banner

❥ Candy + Ribbon Flags

❥ Vintage Lace up Valentines

❥ Glitter Hearts

❥ Hearts on a stick

I found these vintage lace up valentines at a local fabric store and I adore them. Avery's going to give some to her cousins & keep a couple in the Valentine decor box. They are darling and spotted them here.

I already shared the love notes jar in my last post. I also added some photos from my beloved Instax Camera of my family when they came over yesterday. The plan is to have this chalk full of sentiments and snapshots by Valentine's Day.

The plastic hearts open and you can fill with candies.

Ribbon Flags topped with Glitter Buttons and a little bling.

jar of hearts

My mantle is lined up with jars full of hearts. One of them holds hand cut hearts that we write love notes to each other on, then we will read them all on Valentine's Day.

I was the first one and to love someone more than peanut butter? Now that is true love.

Lisa Leonard Designs, one of my blog sponsors, is offering 15% off your entire order for Valentine's Day! Enter loveyou15 at checkout & order by February 8th.

The 'my treasure' necklace is so darling with the jar full of hearts & the 'my heart is full' is very sweet too. Check out the other designs that make such thoughtful gifts. Including the mens items! I may or may not have picked up a gift for Collin there. Shhhh, don't tell.

cha recap

You know when people say the same joke over and over, like Collin's "Fondue... more like Fon-don't." Well, I was one of those annoying people at the craft & hobby show (cha). If anyone asked about my Dear Lizzy line and if I released a new one at the show, I would just point to Lola, "She is my winter release." It's true, there wasn't a new Dear Lizzy line but I am going to jump into it again next month! So, there will definitely be more Dear Lizzy + AC products for those of you who were wondering.

Traveling with a Lola was more work then I thought at times and easier at times. She was so great on the flights, which was a blessing... but there was so much energy at the show that she didn't sleep much. Who could sleep during all that fun? Plus, everyone was lovin on her so she didn't want to miss that. ;)

I felt out of place bringing Lola but it made me smile to see everyone excited to meet her. Suzy was no exception. A bit overwhelmed by all the cha pics I figured I would start with friends from the show!

Lola and her bff April Foster's little girl, Claire.

Dress: Strawberry Cream Puff from Ruche

Loved seeing Rhonna, Margie, Donna, Noel, Lisa Vanderveen, Suzy, April, Kelly Purkey, Kelly Goree, Jennifer, Susan. Plus, so many others not pictured! !!

It is refreshing to be around such fabulous ladies during those two days. Ones that I've only met through emails and blogs but feel like I know already. Others that I've met and clicked instantly and wished I saw them more often!!

Mini Album by Tara from Crate Paper

Some of my favorite patterned paper was from Crate paper! I love the Emma's Shoppe and especially Portrait seen above. Not to mention it was great meeting the ladies at their booth!

Loved seeing Daily Junque from House of 3 & The Girls' Paperie release. Margie's booth was darling as ever with the kite (by April) and other paper pretties!