Crazy for Reptiles

Though Cherry is usually the reptile fan in our family, Apple also jumped the reptile bandwagon while we were at the zoo. She really got into all the lizards, snakes, and turtles. She calls the huge snake she got as a souvenir "daddy snake". Paul and I like to call him Jake the Snake like from Rango since his tail jingles, he's got the evil viper eyes, and well Jake the Snake is just plain fun. I truly expected Cherry to get a snake since snakes are her favorite but she was really intent on bringing home a dinosaur. She picked out this very bright blue T-Rex which reminds me of blue raspberry icees. The T-Rex has yet to gain a name that actually sticks other than T-Rex, but we're working on it ;) 

The zoo trip was just the girls and I. Paul had a few doctors appointments and some tests to do and it just turned out that they were on a day that I didn't have any classes. So we thought it would be fun to take the girls up north with us and I would spend the day at the zoo with them. They loved it so much that even after getting home late at night after a 5 hour drive home, Apple still asked the next morning if we could go back up to the zoo again, lol! They really loved seeing all those animals. We'll definitely be doing this again next year ;)

Elephants and Rhinos

The elephants were so cool that the girls wanted to visit their exhibit twice. And I'm glad we did. The first time was for the elephant show which was really just the zookeepers talking about how they care for the elephants and the elephant demonstrating a few things. Both the girls liked the elephant, but weren't overly amazed about this show like they were at the bird show earlier. However, the second time we came back, the baby elephant Zoey was out. The girls loved watching her and her momma ;)

This is the last week before school starts back up for us, so we're definitely trying to make the most of it! Plus we still have our back-to-school shopping to do, eek! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the pages and have a great Monday!

Big Cats

Apple's favorite thing at the zoo was seeing the big cats. There was this beautiful leopard pacing right next to the glass of its exhibit. It both scared and delighted all the kiddos that were watching. Both the girls were more excited than frightened. Most of the big kitties were lounging in the shade or napping. Last week when we went thrifting we picked up the cutest white tiger for $1. It looked brand new but even so she still went through a cycle in the wash. Apple's named her Sasha. She's a great addition to all her other tigers!

Cherry has had a big thing for maps lately and she played our little navigator at the zoo. This page happens to be one of my favorites that I've made, even though it doesn't use my favorite pictures. I think I just like the sampling of all the papers and the fun little animal stack ;) Last month we picked up a yearly pass to the wildlife museum here. It's just a small museum, but every Saturday it has a fun kids club activity where the kiddos get to learn about a specific animal. The girls love it and it adds a little something educational to their week while out of school. Plus I think in a way it feels like an extension of the zoo. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the page and have a fab Friday!

Exhibits

Cherry and Apple loved looking for the animals in their exhibits. "It's like I-Spy!" Cherry said a few times. Of course her favorite was looking at the snakes. Apple was amazed with all the animals and got quite the fun surprise in the rainforest open exhibit as a bright blue bird flew right by her and up to a branch. It flew so close that it whooshed her hair up! The cutesy animal papers are from Sassfras that I picked up on clearance quite a while ago. I had no idea what I'd use it for at the time and I'm so glad I have it now! The alpha viper is from a darling paper I got years ago. The animals were all very boy and boy colored, but I just loved the embossed animals and alpha theme.

The girls really liked giraffes as well and it was a real treat to get to see one up close. The zoo wasn't doing a feeding activity today so we just watched as the giraffe walked around her exhibit. Cherry mistakenly read the height sign as 6 feet instead of 16. She shouted out "Woah, that giraffe is 6 feet tall!" lol, too funny! Thanks for visiting and enjoy the layout!

Braces and a Zoo Page

Guess what Cherry got last week? Yup, braces! She's got a 'shark tooth' coming out - a tooth that's erupted into her roof palette. Long story short she had to have 2 baby teeth pulled (one still had a long full root) and had her braces put in to set her foundation for when the tooth has fully grown out. Then they will attach the shark tooth and the braces with pull it forward to the gums where it needs to be. The orthodondist said 6 months to 1 year and then 4-6 months wearing a retainer after that. Not all her permanent teeth have showed themselves so hopefully this will be the only 'shark tooth'. Cherry was super excited to get them and loves them even with all the extra weird brushing and floss stuff. I'm so glad she's happy about it because her attitude makes it about a million times easier for us to help her take care of them. Her favorite part is choosing the color of her ties, of course ;) She had purple and pink, but because one of the brackets came off (it was on a capped tooth) we had to go back early so she picked out new ones and is currently sporting watermelon and red.

Most of my time lately has been spent cleaning, reorganizing, and listing things to make for birthdays and Christmas (yup it's about time for me to be prepping for that already) plus a little back-to-school sewing. But I've managed some blog hopping time and came across a cute and probably old idea for talking about the kiddos online by using nicknames. As you've probably already noticed, I've come up with aliases for the girls here on the old bloggo - Cherry and Apple. I figure since they're such little fruitcakes, I'd nickname them after fruits. Obviously C is Cherry and A is Apple so nothing drastic ;) Anyhoo, it's been forever since I've actually printed any pictures and I figured I'd start with the photos I love right now - our summer staycation activities - to kick start my scrapping mojo. So here's the first page to the zoo part of what will be our summer 2011 album. Hope you all have a happy Monday and thanks for stopping by!

My Model

I started and ended my crop pages with the pictures from the same session - C modeling the Analise Dress. C still wears this even in the winter. Of course she has a darling red sweater or her hot pink cardigan that she puts on over it ;) I've been going over some of my other dress patterns, the ones I bought during the summer but haven't made anything from yet. There are a couple I'm really excited to try out. Hopefully I have enough fabric onhand to make a few more dresses this spring, maybe over spring break, but we'll see. In the meantime, I'll just be happy my girls still love the dresses I made so much! That's all the layouts I made from the crop. I hope you enjoyed the pages! Thanks for visiting and have a lovely Wednesday!

Papers by Crate Paper and My Minds Eye; Print Flowers, Sticker, and Brads by Sassafras; Flowers by Imaginisce and Prima; Thickers by American Crafts

Hula Hoop

C tried so hard this summer to learn how to hula hoop and she nearly got it down! I noticed that the smaller, lighter hoops were easier for her to use. She is so cute to watch! This page was the second layout I did at the crop. The Slice and Thickers title was the inspirational starting point for the page. I knew I wanted to cut the word hula out with that Basic Grey paper and then layer the Thickers over it but that was about it, lol. Luckily the rest of it just came together after that ;) I hope you enjoy! Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

Lazy Day at the Pool

Another lemonade pool page! I have loved using this paper with our summer water pictures. These were also from a couple years ago. One of these days I need to print out some new photos to scrap with ;) Of course this was my last free week before my classes start so it probably wouldn't do me much good right now. I don't know if I'll have time to craft at all while in school, though I sincerely hope I can at least make something on the weekends!

I heart my letters stickers and have really been using them up! So much so that I hardly have any left, even of the small ones, yikes!

As I was hunting through my Slice cards I realized I have one that covers each season except for summer. I really wanted a seahorse on the layout... really wanted one. So I drew one on a yellow scrap and cut it out. It came out alright and even the girls could tell it was a seahorse ;) It would have been way faster and easier if I had a die but ah well, we get really creative when we need to right? I hope you enjoy the page and have a fab Friday!

Pool Side

This was the last layout I made at the crop. I didn't quite finish it there since there were some things I didn't have with me that I ended up wanting to put on the page, like those little fishes from my Tiny Treats stamp set. It used to be that I'd stuff everything I had into a XXL Crop 'n Style rolling monstrocity and a couple huge tote bags because I didn't know what I would use and didn't want to leave anything behind that I would need. But now I limit myself to a single bag so that means I have to somewhat plan ahead on what I'm going to be working on which works great if I've done a little stash shopping to make a kit. It's definitely improved how I crop and how much I get done. Plus it's much easier to carry one tote instead of a trunk load of supplies ;) I've been paring down how much I take to crops for the past couple years and I'm still not quite as streamlined as I want to be yet, but I'm getting there! Enjoy the page and have a fabulous Friday!

With a Cherry

I miss little toddler swimsuits. A had such darling swimsuits the past couple years. The little girl ones just don't have that same adorableness factor. Not that she doesn't still look stinkin' cute in her little suit, it's just the girls' suits look... well older. Last year's model was a skirted pink cherry number. Too cute, so I had to make a page with cherries on it! I think pool pictures are nearly as stressful as Christmas pictures. I'm always afraid my camera is going to get wet so I don't always get the best shots. But I love the feel of pool pictures. I love the clear blue water and the bright happy swimsuits. I love the contrast of hot and cool, the giggles and squeals. I just wish it wasn't such a precarious position for my camera to be in ;) Anyway, thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Lemonade Paper by Basic Grey

Dotted Paper Detours by October Afternoon

Cardstock by Bazzil

Flowers by Prima

Cherry Chipboard Dear Lizzy by American Crafts

Flower Chipboard Urban Prairie by Basic Grey

Lush Decorative Brads by My Minds Eye

Thickers and Remarks letter stickers by American Crafts

Ticket Quite Contrary by My Minds Eye

Fiskars Apron Lace Punch

Float like a little Boat

Can you tell I was loving my Lemonade papers at the crop? I often find that I really have to switch gears when I'm at a crop. At home I scrap with my laptop ready so that I can use a sketch or draw inspiration from another layout. When I crop I don't take my computer and I end up having to pull ideas from someplace else. Sometimes it's from the products I'm using, like in this layout, other times it's from the pictures and occassionally I even have my own designs rattling around in my head. It's a longer process since I'm not lifting directly from another visual and am having to compose the page by trial and error. But even though it takes longer and can be more difficult, there is something satisfying and liberating about making a layout that's completely your own ;) I hope you enjoy and have a great Monday!

Lemonade Papers by Basic Grey

Baby Pink Cardstock by Close to My Heart

Other Cardstock by Bazzil

Splash (flower) Chipboard Urban Prairie by Basic Grey

Ticket Quite Contrary by My Minds Eye

Flowers by Prima

Glazed Lemonade and Urban Prairie Brads by Basic Grey

Thickers and Remarks Letter Stickers by American Crafts

Apron Lace Punch by Fiskars

Swim Lil Fish, Swim

Thanks for the water well wishes! The city repaired the line pretty quick the next day and finished over an hour earlier than planned. We ran errands and did a little shopping to make the day go by quicker and the water was back on before we got home, yay! Thursday I got to crop with some friends so I'll be sharing my layouts from that night over the next week. For this one I pulled together some blue scraps and some BG Lemonade papers. You can tell I'm still lovin' circles ;) And I've finally gotten to put my wave border punch to use with these pool pics. I got it on sale half off months and months ago and have been waiting for summer inspiration to strike so that I can use it!

C went through ages 3-5 adamant about not getting into the pool. She loved wading pools, the bath, the water park... but the swimming pool was a whole other thing. We would go and A and I would swim around (well I would swim around while holding A, hehe) and C would just sit on the top pool step, refusing to come in even though every time we went she was so excited. Each year it was the same and as long as she was safe and happy we figured it wasn't worth a battle. Last summer was a complete 180. She was rushing into the water, kickin' and swimming around with her floaties, wanting to go to the deep end, practicing holding her breath to go underwater... it was like she had been gazing out into this new world all this time and was suddenly brave enough to explore it. C had become a little mermaid and she's loved the pool ever since ;) Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

Lemonade Paper by Basic Grey
Blue Detours Paper by October Afternoon
Wave and Dot Paper by Scenic Route
Cardstock by American Crafts
Flower by Prima
Flower Remarks Dear Lizzy by American Crafts
Glazed Lemonade Brads by Basic Grey
Thickers and Remarks letter stickers by American Crafts
Journal Lines Stamps by Papertrey Ink
Heavenly Blue Ink by Close to My Heart
Heart Punch by EK Success
Fiskars Wave Punch

Anything Summer Challenge!

This is my second post today so if you wanted to see my sewing project scroll down ;) If you haven't heard yet, Sparkle has just released an adorable stamp line of her very own! My goodies arrived yesterday afternoon and shortly after I got online I found she was hosting a fun challenge with Surfer Oliver as a prize! This is my entry for the Anything Summer Challenge with my theme being Raspberry Lemonade. There's nothing sweeter than an ice cold raspberry lemonade and a few moments to kick back and relax during the summer! I used Sketch Saturday's Sketch with Cocktail Emily and some BG Lemonade papers to make it easy for me so all I had to decide was how to color her in. Emily is colored with pencils using the gamsol technique on the lemon, drink, ribbon, and dress then hightlighted with a white gel pen. For me the drink in her cocktail glass is Raspberry Lemonade, because even us virgin drinkers love pretty glasses ;) The challenge runs until tomorrow 9pm PST if you want to play along. Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

True Beauty Comes from Within

I remember thinking how grown up C looked in this picture when I first took it. How much of a little lady she looked standing there all poise. Five isn't lady like. Five isn't mature. Five is tousled hair and dirty dresses. Five is chocolate smudged on your face and dirt on your elbows. Five is sweet, adorably stubborn, and always sticky. Yet here was C, five and elegant. Five and posing still like some grown up model for a photo shoot. Okay well maybe that's from years of me always making her model so I can take pictures, but still... she's only five. It's strange to feel like she is so young, to know that she is so young and then look at her and see how much she's grown. Sometimes I feel like I turn around and there is this girl standing beside me where I swore a tiny toddler was tugging on my pant leg before. Kindergarten was this huge milestone and now it seems so far away even though only a couple months have passed. I was calculating about how long it'll take me to get my degree since I'm starting back to school this fall. I figured 4-5 years, that's not so long but measuring it by the ages of my kids... C will be going into 5th or 6th grade depending on whether I can manage 15 credits a semester or only 12. She'll be a preteen by then! With A only 2 years behind her. And now I'm reading that the preteen ages start as early as age 8? That's only a year and a half for C! I can't imagine her being that old already. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around 7. My baby is going to be 7 years old. Is it like this for all moms? Each year you're always behind and just when you start to get the hang of them being an age they are suddenly another year older and somehow everything has changed. It feels like every year around fall I'm shocked. Shocked at how old my girls are, how fast they went from babies to toddlers and now toddlers to school girls. I asked Audrey the other day if she could stop growing and just stay small. You know what she told me? "I have to grow! I have to get to 5!" I laughed and squeezed her while inwardly wondering if she'd let me keep her small after 5.

Green at Heart Papers by Basic Grey
Paper Doll Collection Paper by Crate Paper
Kraft Cardstock from Roberts
FieldHouse Flocked Boutique by American Crafts
Lush Decorative Brads in Green by My Minds Eye
Mini Type Alphas by Jenni Bowlin
Bird Chipboard bases by Scenic Route
Free Bird Beauty Title from Penny Lane by My Minds Eye
Buttons by Papertrey Ink
Hollihock Ribbon by CTMH

She's a Farm Fresh Girl

This is the last layout I'll have made with these Sweet Summertime papers! I hope you've enjoyed seeing all these layouts with that same set and didn't get sick of it, lol! All I have now are some smaller scraps so hopefully I'll use them up on pages or cards soon. This particular page was inspired by one made by Susan. I was really pulled into the slanted design and wanted to try it out for myself. It was a lot of fun, so different than what I'm used to. There's so much dimension on this page, I used a bit of 3D foam to build it up and if I wasn't such a night owl I might actually get some pictures with natural light so that you could see it. As it is I'm usually taking them at 11pm and have to use my flash since my lights aren't that bright inside. I think my photos come out okay for the most part, and you get the general idea ;) Another layout of A. I had so many of these cute pictures of her. Like with C blowing bubbles last year, I just took so very many, lol. I hope you've enjoyed the pages! Thanks for popping by and have a fabulous Friday!

Sweet Summertime Papers by Echo Park Paper Co.

Farm Fresh Papers by October Afternoon

Cardstock by American Crafts

Farm Fresh Stickers by October Afternoon

Sweet Summertime Stickers by Echo Park Paper Co.

Thickers Letter Stickers in Rainboots by American Crafts

Mini Alpha Stickers by Jenni Bowlin

Scallop and Circle punches by EK Success

Red Candy Dot by Pebbles

3D Foam Squares

Summer Time

Pendant banners have become so popular and it's a trend that I adore. I'm hoping to make some for the girls' room but I'm thinking about using fabric for that and frankly I'm a little intimidated about cutting letters out of fabric or felt. However, making little banners to go on a page is much easier so I'm getting my fix that way for now ;) This layout was inspired by one at Studio Calico. Mine's quite a bit simpler but I love how it came together. The little clouds that were originally going to be with the hot air balloon worked perfectly here with the sun stickers. That main sticker sheet is nearly empty now. It makes me a little sad but also proud. All those fun goodies went to good use! This picture cracks me up. The girls love to chase each other around and it's rare that I can capture it on camera. I haven't learned how to take moving photos very well and even when I have it set to action speed I'm sure there's something more I should be doing with it. Thanks for visiting and have a terrific Tuesday!

Sweet Summertime Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.

Farm Fresh Paper by October Afternoon

Cardstock by American Crafts

Sweet Summertime Stickers by Echo Park Paper Co.

Cloud precut die cuts by Pebbles

Treehouse Epoxy Brads by Pebbles

Lemonade mini glazed brads by Basic Grey

Waxy Flax

Journaling Lines and Berry Sorbet Ink by Papertrey Ink

Token Ticket Quite Contrary by My Minds Eye

Carefree

After what seems like forever, I've finally played with a new blogger template. I hope you all like it! It's not something I usually do since for the most part I like to keep my blog simple and low maintainence and I really need to go through my links and gadgets to update them and such. But for right now, I at least switched up the template ;) As for the layout, I love the cooky smile Audrey's got going on in the middle photo and I wanted to pair that with something bright and fun. Using up these stickers makes me happy. They really seem to come to life on the pages. It's hilarious watching my girls play outside. Even now Caitlyn is still fascinated with watching ants or collecting rocks. I love it when I look outside and both of them are crouched down on the sidewalk peering intently at the little ant lines or peeking under rocks to try and find pill bugs. And I love it when they bring me flowers ;) Clusters of wilty dandelions. Enjoy the page and have a fab Friday!

Sweet Summertime Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.

Farm Fresh Paper by October Afternoon

Sweet Summertime Stickers by Echo Park Paper Co.

Apple Paper and Bird Feltie by Sassafras

Lemonade Mini Glazed Brads by Basic Grey

Treehouse Epoxy Brad by Pebbles

Die Cut Sun pre-cut by Pebbles

Journaling Lines stamp set and Dark Chocolate Ink by Papertrey Ink

3D Foam Squares

Apron Lace Border punch by Fiskars

The Story of a Little Lemon

More of that Sweet Summertime set. Audrey can be such a little lemon. You may not believe so with all the cute photos I take of her but come spend a day with me and you'll see all the wonderful behind the scenes action I get ;) Seriously she spends as much time making scrunchie grouch faces and high pitched whining as she does being super sweet and smiley. She even has a grumpy Mii version of her on the Wii. It cracks all of us up especially when she goes 'look its grumpy me!' and makes a matching face, lol. We can't go a day without having a grumpy Audrey moment or 3 or 4. Though her little sour disposition is tiring at times I take solace in the fact that at least she is still adorable when she's a grumpy, grouchy, pouty, sour little stinker pot ;) This layout however is the very simple and sweet version. She's such a lemon all the time that I could squeeze her cheeks and make lemonade!

Sweet Summertime Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.

Journaling Tag by October Afternoon

Thickers Alpha Stickers by American Crafts

Dear Lizzy Dimensional Remarks Stickers by American Crafts

Dear Lizzy Rubons by American Crafts

Sweet Summertime Sticker Border by Echo Park Paper Co.

Come Away With Me

A layout of Paul and I! These are rare indeed ;) Not that we don't want pictures of us. It's just hard to get any since we usually don't think about taking pictures of us instead of our kids. And the times that I do think about getting 'us' pictures I feel weird about asking someone else to snap some. Maybe it's just me being so used to always being the one behind the camera, hehe. Last summer Paul's sister did us the favor of getting a few pictures. The hot air balloon reminded me of two songs - Come Away with Me by Nora Jones and Hot Air Balloon by Owl City. While the paper, colors, and feeling of the layout are very Owl City, I loved the idea of using the other song as the title. So I got my balloon on there and used those cute alpha stickers, plus another ticket! I love the little scene the layout makes with the grass, flowers, and little bike going by on the bottom then the clouds and balloon above ;) I hope you enjoy it and thanks for visiting!

Sweet Summertime Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.

Dear Lizzy Paper by American Crafts

Farm Fresh Paper by October Afternoon

Alpha Stickers, Hot Air Ballon, Pinwheel, and Flowers Border Sweet Summertime by Echo Park Paper Co.

Token of Affection Ticket Quite Contrary by My Minds Eye

Rubons Be Mine and Dear Lizzy by American Crafts

Button Flair by American Crafts

I love... tag by October Afternoon

Namaste

Supplies : Papers from Scenic Route and Octocber Afternoon; Earthlove Chipboard by Cosmo Cricket; Remarks letter stickers by American Crafts;

We love yoga in our house. It's my favorite exercise whether the vigorous workouts or more relaxing stretch sessions. The girls share my love for yoga and often get out their blankies, lay them on the floor just like my yoga mat, and try to follow along with the poses. Their favorite - the Tree Pose. With this layout I wanted to emphasize that by using a woodsy background and some brances paper. Don't you just love all the woodgrain papers that have been out? Dawn McVey just came out with a woodgrain background stamp set for Papertrey Ink, it's so lovely! This is definitely a to have item. Maybe I can convince Paul to get me some crafty goodies for Mother's day ;) Enjoy and have a happy Wednesday!