beautiful

This is the first of my newly found layouts to share with you.

{I mentioned previously that I had found some layouts that were kind of forgotten until I unpacked my scrapbooks in our new home.}

This photo of my daughter was taken 5-6 years ago and I finally got around to using it.  It was a favorite of mine and I actually had it printed right after I shot it, just never scrapbooked it.  ((shame shame))

I love that Martha Stewart butterfly punch!  I probably use that one more than any of my other punches and it never gets old. 

All of the patterned papers in the project are of Bella Blvd's Socialite, Lovey Dovey, and Hello Beautiful lines.  The letter stickers are from that line, as well

Other embellishments include:
Martha Stewart Doilies
Distress Stickles - Worn Lipstick
Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter - Turquoise
K & Co.  pillow stickers
Prima flower
Maya Road Leaf Trinket Pin
Martha Stewart border punches - double scallop and doily lace
Bazzill cardstock

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope to see you again soon!  ((wave))

new projects + photos

Lately, I have been on a mission to try my hardest to keep my blog updated.  One of my goals in doing this is to take better photographs of some of my projects.  Last week I started doing just that... although I am far from done.

These are all just little sneak peaks because I didn't want to inundate my readers with too many photos of many different project in one post.  So I thought I would just share a little snippet of each of the projects today. 

Within the next week or so I will be updating my gallery page here on my blog.  I'm excited to do this as there are quite a few projects that I've never shared before.

These three photos above are all projects never before seen.  They've sort of been hidden away and I rediscovered them when I was unpacking all of my crafty supplies and scrapbooks.  And I'm so glad I did! 

Please stay tuned... there should be more photos coming soon! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll see you next time.  ((wave))

friday food files

 Shameless Cupcakes photo taken using Instagr.am

There's a new little business here in Sonora called Shameless Cupcakes and their cupcakes are divine!  We went in for the first time to pick up a little surprise for the kiddos and ended up buying a dozen little surprises!  We tried to pick out one of each flavor that sounded yummy to us, hoping that we would find our favorites and can keep buying those flavors.  However, we've loved each and every cupcake that we have tried thus far.  This might prove to be a little dangerous.  ((snicker)) 

I'm sure we've all heard how important it is for families to eat dinner together (Time Magazine article  |  NPR  |  The New York Times).  At our house we've been slacking on this quite a bit lately, and Troy and I would really like to get back into this very important habit.  This book by Laurie David has been in my cart at Amazon and I think it may be time to check out. 

Penne Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce is something that I'd really like to try soon.  A bunch of pasta-heads live in my house, so I'm sure it will be a hit!  I'll be sure to update here if we do give it a go...

These Easy Chicken Enchiladas are truly yummy!  I've made them twice since I came across the recipe a couple of weeks ago and they got devoured both times.
I usually plan on serving them with some homemade Spanish rice and refried beans, but my hubby has insisted that the enchiladas will be enough -- if I were to serve anything else with them, it means he won't be able to eat as many enchiladas.  Silly boy.

Another favorite in this house is stews and soups during cooler weather.  This Spicy Chicken Stew recipe looks like it could be a winner.  I'll let ya know!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and having a look at my F r i d a y F o o d
 F i l e s . Do you have any new food finds you'd like to share? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

hello again + project life vol. 2 ::: issue 6 & 7

Hello Project Life 2012 | Weeks six & seven

It's been awhile since I have updated here.  My family and I moved to a new home just weeks before Christmas and we've been trying to settle in to our new home and new routine.  I'll probably share more about that on another day.  Right now I would like to share my Project Life 2012 weeks six and seven with you.

I've been trying to use more product this year because I have so much and I need to make use of it!   I've used some letter stickers, tape, cardstock embellishments, and my Dymo label maker.

Also, I'm trying to branch out to different sized photos rather than printing everything to fit perfectly in the pockets.  Using Instagr.am on my iPhone is a fun way to mix things up, too!  Most of the photos this week are printed at 4 x 4 and 3 x 3.  I'm thinking about trying out 2 x 2 -- maybe next week...

I forgot to photograph any of the goings-on on my birthday so I just wrote a little bit about it on a journaling card.  It reads:  I was so happy when I found out my birthday landed on one of Troy's days off!  The four of us went out to a late lunch at the Peppery Gar & Brill with a stop on the way home at Baskin Robbins.  We picked up a Gold Medal Ribbon ice cream cake and came home to celebrate my 35th Birthday!

The kiddos broke my antique typewriter ((pout :: boo hoo)), so I just typed my words in Photoshop using the Daisy Wheel font and ran the journaling card through my printer.

I took a couple shots around the house to show my friend how I'm displaying the photographs that she took of the kiddos.  I wanted to include those shots because they are actually two of my favorite displays in my house.  ((smile))

We finally got a pretty good dumping of snow last week.  Nothing like we've had in the past, but this Winter hasn't really been like others we've had in the past few years.

The kitty photo on the left shows our cat, Dude, having his way with Anberly's hair.  He is absolutely fascinated by her hair and licks/bites at it sometimes.  We don't really know why, but I'm glad I was able to capture it in a photo.  He's definitely a one-of-a-kind cat.

The kitty photo on the right is of our new kitty, Ryder.  He's a fluffy little thing with short legs.  ((haha :: snort))  He's such a sweetheart and is definitely my kind of cat.


Products Used:

InLinkz.com

december daily inspiration

I am one of those folks that like to peruse the internet for hours looking for crafting inspiration.  It's a curse.  I end up getting sucked in and find it really hard to actually get to crafting.  So it's no surprise that I searched Pinterest for some December Daily inspiration.

Here are a few of my favorites:
[If you click on their names, you will be directed to their blog page that the image was taken from.]

Amy Tangerine --  the use of bright colors for a Winter album is so unusual and she pulled it off perfectly.

Deborah Ruiz -- all the texture and layering in this album is so pretty.

Daniela Dobson -- loving all the kraft paper and machine stitching she used here.

 Jenni Hufford -- the different shaped pages and all the layering is just lovely.

 Marcy Penner -- I love how the pages are so simple and the colors are so muted and clean.

Nicole @ Reaves, party of four -- loving all the tags, envelopes and other inserts she used to fill up her album.

Nicole @ Seriously... brains -- the different sized papers and the eclectic feeling of her album is so lovely.

Ali Edwards -- this is where it all started!


Do you have any December Daily favorites?

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prepping for december daily

Recently I have been prepping for December Daily with Ali Edwards.  This is my first year partaking in this project, and perhaps I chose a wrong year to start (with a move coming up), but (a) I didn't know that this move was coming up this quickly when I decided I was going to do this, and (2) I feel that it is still an important project, moving or not.  I've been back and forth about going digital or traditional.  Earlier this week I had resigned to the fact that I would probably have to go digital with all my scrapbooking supplies packed away.  Then I decided against it and figured I could just pack up what I might need for my December Daily project in it's own little container and keep it accessible during the move and settling. 

Last night I printed out all of my foundation pages using Ali Edwards' 2011 December Daily Overlays.  I printed out the red version on Lily White Bazzill cardstock.

Today I worked on adding some patterned paper to the bottom section and figuring out what types of dividers and inserts I want to add to the album.

 

I ended up going with white vellum for the dividers.  I wanted to use various transparencies, but I couldn't get my hot little hands on any.  Since I have a pretty good amount of vellum in my stash, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to use some up.

The number tags I ordered for the dividers haven't come yet, so I improvised.  I bought several different digital number elements (Musical Strips: Numbers by Katie Pertiet; For the Love of Circle Numbers by Ali Edwards -- I recolored these to match the Pink Paislee Snow Day papers; and Carded Monograms in Red by Katie Pertiet.), printed them out on cardstock, and viola:  I have lots of new numbers for my dividers!  I also used a Jillibean Soup number tag and some American Craft Thickers for my numbers.

When I have better lighting to take better photos, I will show you all the foundation pages along with their dividers and inserts. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope to see you again soon!

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