SOCIAL MEDIA

Rag Curls (+ She is a Total Nutball, I Tell You!)

2.28.2010
Rag Curls

First off the "Nutball" comment is a Junie B. Jones thing...for those that read! ;) Zoesie said that she wanted curls in her hair like mine so I ripped up an old towel to make some rags and tonight after her bath I tied up her hair and hopefully tomorrow morning she'll wake up with some rag curls! I remember my mom tying up my hair in rags for curls when I was just her age. I'll bet that my grandma did that to my mom's hair when she was little as well. Funny how things have a way of repeating themselves.

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Creative Cafe Layout

2.25.2010
Remember Layout Collage

Here's a layout that I had fun using lots of Creative Cafe goodness on! All the colored papers, buttons, and the felt letters are by Creative Cafe (a collection of Creative Imaginations). I've been itching to play with this colorful and shiny collection (it has a metallic sheen to it in real life) for quite some time now. I absolutely love this stuff!

Remember

Products used on layout: Seeing Circles pp, Seeing Stripes pp, Pick Canvas Foil pp, Orange Canvas Foil pp, Sky Canvas Foil pp, Creative Cafe Buttons, Creative Cafe Felt Words, misc: bakers twine.

I'm getting excited about Sping...it's still freezing here most days and we still have a ton of snow it seems but I'm starting to think about family walks and hikes, family visits, camping, bonfires and going to the beach...I can't wait! Hurry on up Springtime!

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Sweet Treat Holder

2.24.2010
You Are Sweet (Treat Holder)

Sometimes it's fun to just whip up something small and cute...this past weekend I found myself with a little bit of time while Zoey was working at her art desk so I made up one of these cute little totes using this tutorial from Regina Andari. I changed it up a bit to make it suitable for holding treats rather than note cards (what Regina used hers for) and used some fun embellishments that I knew Zoey would like. Fun and easy! The flowers used on this project are all by Petaloo and are the Color Me Crazy Jeweled Florettes.

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Petaloo Flowers

2.23.2010
close-up flowers

Sharing my first layout for Petaloo International! I am in love with their flowers...here on the above layout I used some of their Bristol Blackbox Collection (in white), some of their Tiffany Treasures florals (in topaz gold) and some of the fun tiny Jeweled Florettes. I am going to have so much fun designing for this company!

beauty

And speaking of flowers, be sure to check out the post that I did today for the Mosh Posh blog...I shared some of my favorite tutorials on how to make your own flowers!

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Creative Imaginations: Zoey Banner

2.22.2010
Sweet Zoey Banner

Here is a project that I made for the Creative Imaginations blog last week. I actually used the Beverly Heart book from the Bare Elements Collection and took apart the book binding using my craft knife and punched holes in the individual hearts to make the banner. I used patterned papers, chipboard stickers and 3 dimensional stickers from the Sweet Shoppe Collection by Renae's House. Zoey has it hanging in her bedroom right now and loves it...it was one of her special little valentines that I gave her this year. One of the many perks of getting to design projects for CI is that many of my loved ones get to enjoy the finished products! =)

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Zoey's back to school today...I'm hoping to get some groceries and make a run to the library at some point as we're getting low on the "new" Junie B. Jones' books! Zoey shared with me last night that she was interested in hearing about Junie B. Jones when she's 6 (there are Junie B. Jones First Grader books in addition to the Junie B. Jones Kindergartener books) and I had to smile.
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Mosh Posh March Sneak + Mom's Night Out Projects

2.20.2010
I thought it might be fun to share a little sneak peek of what's to come for the month of March for Mosh Posh...I have to tell you that I cannot wait to get this one! So excited to see a bit of American Crafts' Dear Lizzy collection mixed with a bit of Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl...YUM! I'm already picking out my pictures that I'm going to use with this kit and I don't even have it yet! =) Now that's inspiration!

Usually I'm not one for pastels and lighter colors and especially not pink when crafting but I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting sick of winter and am ready for the change of pace that Spring brings or what but I've been crafting using a lot of pastels lately! And (whispering here), I'm finding that I kind of like it! Who knew! Anyways, later this week we're having a Mom's Night Out event through the local MOPS chapter here and this month it's taking place at my local scrapbook store (where I work part-time) and so I've been helping my friend Misty come up some projects that our friends will make that evening and here are two that I've come up with so far...my contributions. Hopefully I'll be able to make up another two little somethings' later this week to add into the mix.

Thank You Card

Thank You Card

One-Of-A-Kind Card

One-Of-A-Kind Card

Doesn't get more pastel than that I'm afraid! =)

Hope your having a wonderful weekend!

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Thank Goodness She is Getting Better (+ a Layout)

2.19.2010
So yesterday was scary. Zoey's fever was not going down and she was literally falling asleep/ready to pass out while standing up when we were at Walgreens waiting for her prescription to be filled. The second I would pick her up she would just go limp. Being that this was the fourth day of this and that she wasn't eating and was drinking very little fluids I freaked out and called Ethan to come home from work because I just couldn't deal with it anymore and wasn't sure what to do. Called the dr. again and he said to just go ahead with the med's and to see what happens. She took the first dose fine along with some Tylenol and she slept for four hours, was awake for maybe one hour last night and slept the entire night and well into the morning. She woke up this morning drank a ton of juice and took her second dose of med's and threw everything up (sorry). I started freaking out again thinking she had the H1N1 deal and then calmed myself down thinking that she had an empty stomach (hadn't eaten very much of anything solid for the past three days) and the medicine was probably strong, etc.). Sure enough. By lunchtime today she has now eaten a big bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup, drank some apple juice and has even had some CHOCOLATE PUDDING and has kept it all down! Hallelujah! This has been the longest week of my life! In the course of the last five days she has had a sore throat, fever (lasting all of the days but one), body aches, chills, has vomited, had no appetite and has had the worst cough ever. Talk about being put through the ringer!

Speaking of which...while she was sleeping this week I had a bit of time to scrap and all I could think of was how much I wanted her to be up and playing again...how more than anything I wanted that little girl asking, "Can I go outside and play mom?" or "Mom will you play with me?" so that was my inspiration for the layout below. Hoping we are out playing again real, real, soon. I love you Zoey Raen!

Loves to Play

Loves to Play

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Still Sick

2.18.2010
Sick Zoey

Took her to the dr. yesterday and she's still home again today per dr.'s orders and due to the fact that she still has a fever. Hopeful that today is the day that she starts perking up. It's really bothering me that she still has the fever. She's been napping every day - a sure sign that she's fighting something as she NEVER has been a napper. I'm having a hard time getting her to eat as well, it's always just little bits here and there. She's been good with fluids though so that's good. I got a call from her teacher this morning who called to check in and she shared that another classmate has missed the entire week of school as well. She also told me to tell Zoey that all her classmates miss her very much which Zoey appreciated hearing.

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On to something other than what I've been dealing with all week...I've never been one that has had to have a die-cutting machine but I'll tell ya what, that may be changing. Have you seen what's going to be available in March from eCraft?



Check out the machine in action here and by checking out the following video.



What I'm excited about particularly? It cuts 12 x 12 sized paper, it makes the most of the size of the paper all on it's own (wastes less paper), it cuts FABRIC, it has a feature that welds letters together, and there are no cutting mats!

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Tutorial : Making Paper Rosette's

2.16.2010
Since Zoey's home sick again with me from school today I thought I'd share a post that I did earlier this month for Paper Studio on making Paper Rosette's. Enjoy!

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I don't know if you've been seeing them everywhere or not but I sure have! I've seen small paper rosette's adorning scrapbook pages, decorative banners, cards and even used as party and home decor! And, I LOVE them and had to investigate on how to make them. Last summer I made some large ones from tissue paper for my daughter's birthday party and found them to be pretty simple but I wasn't sure how scaling them down to create a scrapbook embellishment would work out. I'm happy to report that it's a piece of cake! And today I'm going to share how to create both the large version as well as the small...

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For the smaller rosette I started out by cutting three strips of text weight paper measuring 8 1/2 x 11 inches. You will need three strips to create one rosette, below I have pictured three stacks of three (to make three rosettes).

Paper Strips

Next you will want to score your strips of paper at 1/2 inch intervals until your entire strip is scored. There will be a bit at one end that is shorter than one inch, trim that off with your scissors.

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Once your strips of paper are scored, fold along your scored lines by zig-zag (or accordian) folding.

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Now attach all three of your strips together by using double-sided adhesive or Super Tape.

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Bring your rosette together by adding a large Zot (glue dot) in the center of your rosette. You may need to add a couple depending on how well you are able to place the glue dot.

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You can cover your glue dot with a button or other embellishment for the center of your rosette, or you can leave it plain and push the glue dot in so it is more in the center of your rosette.

Here were my larger ones that I created using tissue paper for some simple (and cheap!) birthday party decorations.

Birthday Party

I started by cutting out different lengths of tissue paper (purchased the standard size of tissue paper that comes in the gift wrapping section of your area department store) and started accordion folding the entire sheet of tissue paper from the longest (in length) side until the entire sheet was folded. Now fold the entire folded strip in half and stick one side of your tissue paper to the other using Super Tape. Fluff out rosette and you are done!

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Zoey's First Time Ice Skating!

2.15.2010
Skating Buddies

Yesterday Zoey tried ice skating for the first time and it was pretty special because we got to meet her little friend and classmate that is moving away (her last day of school was Friday). Zoey is pretty sad and Ethan and I have heavy hearts about it too so getting together for a special good-bye was soooooooooo important. Zoey had me print these photos out right away yesterday and they are hanging beside her bed so that she can look at them before going to sleep.

Skating Buddies

After skating we went out for hot cocoa because that's just what you do when your done skating! =) There was another little friend that was along to say her good-bye's and share in this last hurrah with us which was nice as she is a good friend of Zoey's too.

Skating Buddies

Some little friends are just meant to be...and I know that this was one of them. Email addresses and contact information was exchanged and hopefully the girls will be able to stay in touch. I'm afraid that Zoey's going to be hit hardest when she goes back to school and realizes that her little buddy isn't on the playground waiting for her like usual.

Skating Buddies

Here is just a fun photo of our community snowman! Every winter the snowplow trucks form this giant snowman downtown and it just happens to be across from the ice rink. I remember the first winter that we lived here and saw it...we thought it was so cool!

Giant Snowman

Today Zoey is off of school due to a teacher in-service day and we were scheduled to attend a teacher conference this afternoon with Zoey's teacher but I ended up canceling and re-scheduling for later in the week because Zoey has a fever and is not feeling so hot today. I'm actually surprised that she's made it this far without getting the cruddies because everyone at school has come down with it, including myself. Thinking that tomorrow she'll most likely be home with me again. We'll see.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

2.14.2010
Valentine Flowers

A little sweetheart here got some flowers all of her own! I tell ya, it was the best $4.99 we could have ever spent...she is so in love with them and even arranged them in a vase all herself and then very carefully arranged all of her other valentines so that they were leaning against the vase of flowers "just so." Ethan's comment was that the acorn doesn't fall too far from the tree (as apparently I have this very same obsessive and particular behavior at times!).

Valentine Flowers

Last night we went out to eat at a favorite restaurant of ours and went for a nice drive afterwords. It was really nice...to just have some time together and to be able to finally relax and enjoy one another.

Valentine Flowers

Having some fun editing photos a bit again using Picasa. For these photos I used the focal BW feature desaturating my photos around a focal point that I determined. I'm happy with how they turned out.

May you enjoy this special day!

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I Love Lands End Overstocks!

2.13.2010
I've been trying to get better about shopping for items ahead of season for Zoey to hopefully get a better deal on things (especially the necessary things) and I'm so tickled to have scored this down filled quilted coat for Zoey at Lands End for 50% off the original price by visiting their overstocks section online. I was able to get it a size ahead so it will be perfect for next year and I love that it's made for -20°/30° Fahrenheit weather! Perfect for living here in northern Wisconsin. I also figured that it will be easy enough to pick up a pair of boys black snowpants around here locally from the boys department (why do they always make boys clothing more durable and less expensive?) next year to go with the coat.


I also picked up a couple of dresses that were marked way down. The floral one for school next year (priced at $12.99) and the short sleeved tie-dyed one for summer play (priced at $6.99).

Still on the wish list are these two dresses but they'll have to stay there for awhile because they are still priced a bit above what I'm willing to pay. But aren't they so sweet? The little Floral Holiday Dress reminds me of the dresses worn in Little Women and I wish that they had the grey Pleated Front Jersey dress available in my size! It looks so comfy!

There are so many fun leggings and dresses available through Lands End and I love knowing that what I'm purchasing is well made and the quality is right on.

Off to play dollhouse with Zoey...my sickness has moved into my head now and is s-l-o-w-l-y getting better. Hoping to take Zoey ice skating with her little friend who will be moving away tomorrow morning. I'm so glad that she's going to get the chance to say good-bye and have a little bit of fun with her friend before she's gone.

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Check it Out!

2.12.2010


Stacy Marks (owner of Marks Paper Company) is now one of Two Peas in a Bucket's Digital Designer Team! I am so very happy for her...this is her first kit that's available for purchase on Two Peas! Congratulations Stacy! I am so very happy for you!

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