new stuffs from ssd!

here is my 365 photo...not super impressive or anything. I took this out the back window in our house. the snow finally made it's appearance. we have several inches this morning!


We are going to try heading out in it later, I think. Today is Tim's birthday and we need to pick up his cake. Hopefully we can make it out. Happy birthday to him, huh :p!

K, onto layout sharing. Yummy stuff in the shop this week!

Using Kitchsy Sweet by Scrapkitchen and Traci Reed

Using Mariposa by Julie Billinglsey and Paper Clips: Circle Templates 2.0 by Libby Weifenbach

Using Love of my Life by Julie Billinglsey

Close to the Edge by Shawna Clingerman

Emma Nicole by Melissa Bennett

Hanging in there...

Okay, I'm still hanging in there with P365, I just SUCK at blogging *lol*! I just can't seem to remember to do it :p!

Okay, here is my proof! This is my layout for week 4! I am loving the way these are turning out! I can't wait to have a whole book full of them!

So here are the full pics and a bit about them since they are small and the journaling is unreadable on that lil thumbnail of my page LOL.

So this was taken Saturday. It was sorta kind nice outside! Not warm per se but not raining and not freezing! It was in the lower 50s. I was running around the yard like a crazy woman snapping photos of any child who would let me. Tristan copped a little emo attitude because I wasn't taking photos of only him. I took the opportunity to get a few shots b/c he's either smiling from ear to ear in every photo or acting like a 5 year old, over the top silly.

Sunday, Lena threw me a surprise thank you party! If you remember I had a mysterious invitation appear one day and this was what it was all about. She is the sweetest sister ever!

Gabriel lost his first tooth this week. I love his little toothless grin!

I started watching the first season of Supernatural this week. I'm not done with Charmed yet (2 seasons to go) but they were temporarily unavailable from Netflix so they sent this instead. I have to say I'm loving it so much I moved the rest of the season up in my queue. I'll pick Charmed back up after I'm done!

Tim stayed home from work and school today to fix the brakes on his car. It was super, super cold but Julian just had to go out for a few minutes to help his daddy! Too cute!

Today's photo is of some of Julian's fuzzy sleepers. It is really, really cold out there and I thought this nicely captured the idea as well as giving a glimpse of my sleeper obsession. These are the just ones that came out of the dryer! I have drawers and drawers full of them. They are so comfy and warm, he wears them day and night really *lol*.

I hopefully will be back to blog tomorrow with some sneak peak pages from my SSD designers and hopefully a p365 photo!

Some new pretties to look at....

Week 3 layout! That is one more layout than I managed to complete last year! Woohoo! I'm awesome! LOL :p!



This day had a traumatic beginning. I woke up and internet was down. A call to our ISP estimated it would be down until 6 pm tonight. It's a bit of blur but I think I may have passed out. Of course, it was working again a few minutes later. I find myself braced for it to go down again. Not sure what the problem is but I hope it stays up!

I'm back with 365 photos and some new layouts to share! I'm really enjoying doing this project this year. I know it's still early in the game but I feel optimistic! about sticking with it!

This was taken after Gabriel got home from school Wednesday. It rained on and off all day but we caught a non rainy spot and the mildly warmish weather made it nice enough for us to hang out outside for a little while. I like it! Gabriel is also a very difficult subject to photograph so I was stoked to get a decent photo of him :)!
Early Thursday afternoon a mysterious invitation appeared on my doorstep. I wonder what Lena has up her sleeve. A note jotted on the back of the invitation instructed me not to bother asking questions b/c I wasn't getting anymore answers LOL. I guess we'll see!

Last night Tim and I went out on a DATE! Lena and I have a long standing arrangement of watching each others kids weekly so we can each have date nights but for one reason or another it just hasn't worked out for Tim and I to go out since before Thanksgiving. It was long overdue LOL! We went to a chinese buffet which was unusually yummy and then we went to the movies and saw The Book of Eli. It was fun and the movie was great!

Now, onto my pretties for the week! Using Clementine by Scrapkitchen

Using Lollipop by Melissa Bennett

Using Modern Stone Age Family by Libby Weifenbach

Using U and I by Shawna Clingerman

Still at it...

Still keeping up with my P365. I'm proud of myself. I haven't struggled or been bored yet either. I rock :)!

This photo from last Friday really reveals a lot about Julian. 1) He loves stuffed animals, my only child to have any interest in them. 2) He's a wallower. He prefers to wallow on me or Tim in the floor but if we aren't available a pillow or stuffed animal will do. 3) The child can't stand tidy. Immediately upon waking from his nap he pulled down all the stuffed animals I had put up while he slept. He feels the same way about toys. He starts chucking them out of the toy box as soon as I get them put away. Little stinker.


Then on Saturday, out tv just up and died. I'm still traumatized about the sudden demise. We decided to temporarily rent this tv, probably a hasty decision but we do what we gotta do! We properly initiated the new tv into our home with Edward Cullen.


Sunday, was a laundry day, oh the joys! Julian enjoys sitting on the dryer and watching Blues Clues while I fold clothes and put them away.

Lena brought me a special treat on Monday. The chocolate-iest chocolate cupcake ever made from Gigi's. It was delish!
Yesterday, was the day Parker and Naomi went back to their mommy's house. It's a good thing they live so close so I can still see them lots and lots.
I haven't taken my photo for today yet. Waiting to see what the day brings. So far its been a lot of cleaning LOL! Before I depart I'll share some of my recent layouts!

This is for the blog bonus 3 challenge at SSD using Dani Mogstad's Monstrosity. I can't believe I had never scrapped these photos of Julian in his monster costume.

For the color challenge at SSD. I used Julie Billingsley and Lauren Grier's A Springy Kind of Fling. I think it is retired now. Such a cute kit. It was fun scrapping these pics from Tristan's babyhood.
Using Melissa Bennett's new kit Pop Rock. This one actually is not for any kind of challenge, just a page for fun!

This one was to hopefully get this song out of my head. If you watch Nick Jr you'll recognize this catchy Laurie Berkner song with no trouble. The kit is Imagination by Dani Mogstad.
I loved doing this page! I used Shauren's new kit Own it! You really must. Such a fun, versatile kit! I can see myself scrapping page after page with it.
Last but not least, a page about yours truly using Scrapkitchen's new kit, Autobiography.

Woohoo! Made it through week 2!

I made it through week 2 of project 365! Here is my photo from today! Julian has been looking for his big brothers this morning. They went back to school today! I knew the snow days wouldn't forever but they sure were fun! They may not be completely over. We are still prone to having snow up until March realistically. It is however unusual to have such a long string of them together like we just had.
I've also been anxious to scrap them immediately. I really hate the idea of falling behind at all. I'm afraid if I do I'll quit the whole project again and I really want to succeed this year. I can't remember if I shared the first weeks page. These are inspired by Kayleigh's P365 layouts. You can look her up at MSA. Gorgeous stuff. I'm loving the way they are turning out. Last year I only made it to week 2 in terms of layouts and week 4 in photos.


The big difference is last year I was way overwhelmed. Lena and I were still getting the hang of designing again, making time and still scrapping etc. We were starting a new store (ES), I was trying to keep up with the highly demanding challenge system at SSD and it was just too much to handle all at once. I'm keeping it together better this year and the new challenges at SSD are FABULOUS!

Living the quiet life...

Really though, they are all pretty quiet days here. Not that I am complaining. Not at all. I absolutely love it. Sometimes we have those weeks where I'm running from one doctors appointment to the next and it's crazy and tiresome. I love being at home everyday with the kids. This is my kind of life. We are having another snow day here. Had one yesterday too. Again, not that I'm complaining. I'm actually quite enjoying those too!

My photo yesterday was Tristan trying not to smile while I take his picture. He is of course playing a video game. As you'll see a bit later that's all he really wants to do. Of course, we don't let him sit and play all the time but if he had his way that is all he would do I'm sure!
Today's photo subjects are my adorable niece and nephew, Naomi and Parker. I've been watching them while Lena is recuperating from surgery. I only get to keep them a few more days. I'm going to miss them so much!
Which bring me to the next photo! Parker has taken to 'hiding' toys in his sleeper. I'm not sure why but at any given time you'll see him walking around with a bulge on his leg or his sleeper feet all strange looking LOL. I suspect it's a way of keeping the toys from the other kids but in any case it is funny :p!

I've been scrapping quiet a bit over the last few days. I'm sharing only two now because the others are CT pages for stuff that's coming out this Saturday :p. This first page is the scrap a hobby challenge at SSD. I could have scrapped about my scrapping but honestly I'm getting tired of scrapping about me so I picked Tristan's love of gaming. This is using a template from Collection 33 by Janet Phillips and Toys for Boys by Manda Beans and Zoe Pearn, retired I believe.
This is also a challenge page featuring Tristan. It's the Color Me Katie challenge where you scrap a series of photos that tell an event. I was stumped on this one at first until I randomly came across these photos of Tristan trying strawberry shortcake for the first time. As you can see, he was super excited but ended up not liking it. I've not given up hope though. He likes strawberries so maybe one day he'll like it :P. I used Dani Mogstad's Fruit Punch kit and a What A Week template by Colie's Corner. (see how good I'm doing on my use more templates resolutions LOL)!

Lost glasses....

I spent the better part of my day looking for these glasses. It honestly doesn't makes sense. They were between the small space between the bed and wall. I sleep on the other side of the bed.

I think I give new meaning the words 'absent minded'. I can't keep up with anything. I am constantly losing my purse, keys, wallet, remote control, camera, and of course glasses. Thankfully I'm not totally blind or so I can see without them, I'm nearsighted. Tim is a savior at helping me keep up with stuff. When I come home he usually immediately confiscates my purse and keys so I can't 'lose them'. At night before bed, I hand him my glasses and he puts them up until morning. Isn't he sweet!

I'm bringing this blog post to you straight from another snow day at our house. I'm really kind of surprised but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I was commenting yesterday afternoon that I was suprised by this snow's staying power. Normally if we get snow, it'll snow in the morning or overnight and by the afternoon it's all melted. This snow has stuck around. It has also continued snowing on and off. I don't want to complain about our snow days though. Soon enough we will be back to a regular school schedule day in and day out until late May or early June, depending on exactly how many snow days we end up having this winter. I'm betting we will have school tomorrow for real though. I guess we'll see!

Hit the road, Jack

So Tim drives to the gas station last night to get some candy bars. While he was there a trucker approached him and insisted (I'm told) that he take this dog. A cute lil pup, a Jack Russell (named Jack of course) wearing a little doggie coat. Tim is a big old softie for animals and has difficulty saying no so of course he takes the dog.

Now don't get me wrong, I love animals. I love dogs even. One day I want to own a dog but not right now. I have small children. Most days I'm overworked and overwhelmed by them alone. The thought of puppy training and all those destructive behaviors that puppies have. I just can't handle it.

So Tim brought him on home and he's so adorable my heart starts to melt a little and I start thinking well maybe I could do it. But after only a few hours of dealing with puppy reminds me why I'm just not ready to have a puppy in the house yet. So this morning we offered Jack the Jack Russell to Lena and she accepted him!

I kind of feel like a mean old puppy grinch or something but puppies are a lot of work and I already have a lot of work to do. One day when the kids are a little bit older we'll get a great family dog and I'll devote much time, love and attention to said doggie, until then we'll just have to visit Jack (who may be getting a new name LOL :P)

Busy with a side of busy....

I haven't been able to get here in a few days. Despite having snow days, or maybe because of them, it's just been too busy to stop in here. I've been taking my photo and doing CT work and SSD challenges as I can :)!

Day 7 photo is Tristan playing the PS3 on the second snow day of the week!

Day 8 photo is the aftermath of the snow storm. That's a pretty good bit of snow for where we live!
Day 9 is of course today! I reactivated our Netflix subscription yesterday and got season 5 of Charmed in the mail today. Love it :)! Been working on some Bella Gypsy goodies this morning.
Pages galore!! This is with scoop between Melissa Bennett and Manda Bean, Winds of Change. Also featuring Frivolous White Alpha by Julie Billingsley and 525,600 minutes by Shawna Clingerman.

Kiss Me Kate by Scrapkitchen Designs.

Love Story by Libby Weifenbach.

Kickstart by Shawna Clingerman

Heart Whispers by Melissa Bennett.

Not enough hours in the day...

I spent the day cleaning. Not that the house got clean or anything but I did clean all the same. I had a gigantic backlog of clean laundry to put away and some more to do and I decided to declutter and organize two very troublesome hotspots in my home. So it's not like I have nothing to show for it but it would be nice if the house actually looked tangibly cleaner right LOL.


Julian is a big helper and my perennial shadow. Anywhere I go he's one step behind so he helped me all day long. My photo for the day of is one to illustrate Julian's specific brand of help. I was putting sippy cups in the kitchen sink. So Julian finished off his cup and put it in his kitchen sink LOL! Very cute , huh?

I took a bunch of photos today for possible 365s but this was just too cute to pass up. I also made a bit of time to scrap while I was taking a break during Julian and Parker's nap. I gave Tristan and Naomi a snack and put Beethoven's Big Break on for them to watch so I could buy some quiet time for mommy.

I really, really love my page! It is also for the challenges at SSD, did you know Jan 15th is hat day? Neither did I *lol*! I used Safari Party by Melissa Bennett and Traci Reed and Sketchers 4 - Lucky 7's by Julie Billinglsey.


One of my resolutions this year was to use more templates. If I scrap sans template I've realized I basically scrap the same page over and over again. It's nice to use templates and make pretty things that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. These templates by Julie are BRILLIANT! Not just for P365 layouts as you can see! I also kind of felt like I was cheating when I used a template but I've let that go. Some of my favorite pages were created using templates. Whether I keep everything just the same or switch them up a bit, templates are my friend and great scrapping tool!