Love the Sights

Frankenmuth is a beautiful little town here in Michigan. I visit it several times a year. Even when I don't have lots of money to spend at all the fun little shops I enjoy the sights. Every time I go I find something I haven't seen before that I love and just NEED to take a picture of. From festivals to new Christmas decorations so many things fill my heart with flutters. As times get harder and harder here in this great state it makes me sad to think that we may have to leave it. It's places like this that make me love where I live. I couldn't imagine being unable to pack the kids up and drive to this adorable little place and buy my favorite candles, visit the yarn shop or get .25 wine "shots". I pray every day that things turn around and that Frankenmuth will still only be 1 1/2 away.

Amore

For my third paper pack I am going to showcase Amore. It's very romantic and lovely. The deep red makes me want to eat chocolate out of heart shaped boxes. When I was in high school I worked at a Hallmark store. I loved how every holiday, every season brought on new items and a new feel to the store. Valentines day was one of my favorite times. The bright colored chocolate boxes and fun heart shaped cards were all pulled and displayed in the front of the store. Men and boys of all ages would slowly and reluctantly walk into the store looking for a presentable card or gift for their sweet-heart. I would giggle to myself at how silly they all looked next to the usual grandma's who scattered the store on most days. This paper reminds me of that time. A time when I use to get cards and chocolates for my boyfriend and cared that they got me something too! Being a mother of three I now look forward to my children's hand drawn pictures and have long forgot about the fancy laced covered cards and bowed up candy boxes. So here's to the memories!

Okay I didn't make this page above. It's a layout done by one of the many talented people from Close to my Heart. I just thought it was so lovely and really fit my story so I wanted to show it to you all. The card on the other hand is fully mine!

Free Stamp set in February

It's Close to my Heart's 25th Anniversary and in celebration they are giving away a free B-sized stamp set (valued at 13.95) with every 25 dollar order in February. The stamp set is called good times and boast a fun party theme with sayings like hip hip hooray, celebrate good times and Party on! Plus it has images of balloons, presents and my all time favorite cupcakes! Check out the website starting February 3rd at www.closetomyheart.com!

Oh what to say?

You ever make a card and not know what sentiment to use? Well I am having this problem. I started this card days ago. I had a plan. I was interrupted and now I can't figure out what I was going to put on it or where I was going to put it! So here is my almost finished card that I mentioned in my last post.

My talking two year old!

Okay, here is the cards. I'm not going to talk about it. What I am going to talk about it my sweet little two year old Peyton. It took him awhile to get into the talking mode. He didn't have much to say for the first two years of his life. Things have changed. He is a chatter box...at least at home. One might think that I would get a little overwhelmed with all his talking. It's so not the case. His little screams good and bad make my heart sing. His "Ma-mees" and "Tank OOs" melt me every time. He is also a very silly boy. Most kids don't really pay much attention in Church. They never really pick up anything except that they get to color. Not my Peyton. He loves the "peace be with you" portion where everyone shakes hands. He sticks his arm out to anyone and everyone...several times if need be. Then he continues to do it. All the while cracking everyone up around us. I wonder if the Pastors will ever catch on to all the giggles where ever we're sitting. Anyway, I just wanted to share a little bit of this, a small thing that makes me greatly happy. Short and sweet and to the point have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Perfect Paper = Great Pages

Let me tell you, working has really put a damper on my stamping time! So I am putting up two posts today. I have one more card I’ll show you tomorrow that I haven’t finished yet.

Do these pictures look familiar? Well I posted them in celebration of my AWESOME scrapbooking weekend with Jana back in July. We went to the Scrap Palace of Romeo for a weekend of girl’s fun, fun, fun! It was such a blessing to be able to share in so much enjoyment with one of my favorite people and favorite scrapbookers. I hope we can do it again. Sticking with my theme paper of daydream I am sure Jana will agree that this paper screams Scrap Palace. When I first got my little greedy hands on Close to my Heart’s new idea book I spied that paper and knew exactly what event was going to be put on it. The colors and patterns reminded me of my superb stay. It’s astonishing how the mind works and how certain papers, embellishments, colors or patterns can bring you back to a time and date. Really these are the best kind of pages because it speaks volumes about the event without using any words. I can only hope that I really will be able to do it again.

MMM...MMM...Good!

First, I would like to apologize for not posting yesterday like I said. Pink eye has taken over my house. How does this happen you ask! Well, one day you wake up and notice yuck in your son’s eye. You wipe it out because it is gross. That’s the end of that right?! Well the next morning it comes back. You are a little more concerned now. Why is he getting yuck in his eye! He is not running a fever, he is not acting sick, and he is even sleeping very well. So once again you wipe it out and go about your day. The third day comes and yuck has over taken your son’s eye. It is almost sealed shut. So you head over to the doctor’s office to see what’s up. 2 hours later you head over to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. 45 minutes later you are on your way home. Then you struggle for 15 minutes to get the drops in your son’s eyes. Half hour later you almost have him to sleep because suddenly he has become the boogeyman. So the rest of the day goes on much the same; trying to keep the “boogeyman” happy and away from the other children. So again I apologize!

On a better note I could just eat these cards. Ya’ll know how much I love cupcakes. I am sure you can just imagine my reaction when CTMH came out with a new cupcake stamp add that with my favorite paper and woo hoo I’m happy! I had only a short time to play with these last night I can’t wait to get really creative with all that I can do. I am imagining layers and sparkles, what do you think?

Daydream

This week I am going to feature the Close to my Heart paper pack daydream. I feel like I am in a dream when I am using this paper. The soft yet playful colors bring back that girly childish enthusiasm that I feel like I loose in my everyday life. I adore the swirls, lines and loads of colors. I would be keen on the idea of designing my craft room around this paper (that is once I get a craft room again!). It just screams Kelly! I mean can’t you hear it chanting my name…kind of like the people at the inauguration today, but instead of O-BA-MA they’d say KEL-LY, KEL-LY! (Okay I know this is totally off subject but isn’t this just a happy day? I will admit that I did not vote for him but I love that our country has such a wonderful and peaceful transfer of power. I love that I got to watch history. I love the tender moments of the day and I love that I get to explain and teach my children about how amazing and unique our country is. I am proud to be an American.) I think the best way to share your excitement about something is to share it with someone else. In light of this revelation I made this acrylic album for a magnificent friend of mine. Her new daughter was just baptized into the Lord and I was proud to offer this as a humble but love filled gift. I also used our new rub-ons…which I am now addicted to. I can’t wait to see it filled with beautiful pictures of the new baby girl.

I must admit that I have a hard time embellishing things up when I do not have the pictures. Does anyone else have this problem? I still think it looks delicious but I wouldn't have minded a little more bling. I guess we'll take care of that later in the week with some of the cards and layouts that I can't wait to show you!

Happy Birthday to me!

Okay it's my Birthday. I am feeling very old. I've known my sister- in -law since she was in the 5th grade. She just turned 25 this month. I feel very very old. My oldest is 7 and the baby (who really isn't that anymore) is turning 2 on Wednesday. Yup still feeling old. I've owned two houses, had 6 different cars, been to Vegas 4 times and have known my husband for 9 years. (Sigh) old. Looking on the bright side of things I've been officially scrapbooking for the last 12 years. Wow. I remember when I use to buy all my supplies from the Hallmark and used construction paper and sharpies to make my pages. Later I moved onto the one and only "scrapbooking" store in Grand Rapids. The entire store was stickers (on rolls) they covered the store wall to wall. I slowly moved on to buying stuff from Joanns and the much fancier local scrapbooking stores. I now have been part of Close to my Heart for almost 4 years. Seriously where has the time gone? I've learned a lot in my years so I guess that could be considered "bright" too. I've learned that almost everyone says "my kids will never act like that" and then or course they do. I've learned that marriage is work. That life is only what you make it. That houses don't sell themselves and one day at a time is a lot easier said then done. I've learned that angels live among us. That rainbows really are God's reminder to us and that sprinkles cupcakes are worth every dollar. So I guess even though I am getting "old" I would rather be right here right now then 13 again! (That is for Mariah who thinks that I can't dance...which she may be right) So happy birthday to me! I hope I can make this year go by slower and enjoy life more and scrapbook as much as possible! I give you all permission to celebrate with me so please eat a cupcake, have a martini or a glass of wine , wear a crown all day and scrapbook how "old" you are!

A fun gift

I am stealing this idea from the million different crafters. I love the idea of giving food as a gift though. I think it's one of the best things and I always love when I get yummy treats given to me. So to continue the use of my emporium paper (which I think may be my favorite...but I haven't worked with the others yet so that may change!) and just did something simple. Sometimes simple is just beautiful and I feel that it what I achieved with this. I think I am going to use this idea for covering chocolates for a baby shower I am helping plan.

Growing to fast

Isn't this page just delicious!? I just want to swim in that cocoa color. I love the rich feeling of the dark red and the playfulness of the soft yellow and green. I attempted to use our rub-ons for the first time and was extremely pleased with the result. The title really seems to be growing out of the page! These pictures are very sentimental to me. We've been going to the same place to get our pumpkins for four years now. Each year we've taken pictures of the kids. It's amazing to me that the first year Peyton wasn't even in existence. We hadn't even talked about having a third child. It put things into perspective. Four years doesn't sound long but I feel like Peyton has been apart of our family forever. Funny how that works! I look at these three little babies (yes they are all still my babies!) and am so thankful for them. So happy to see the grow and amazed that they are mine. One of these days I'll print off all the years and put them on one page so we can really see how tall they are each fall!

Long time no see!

So what a way to start off the New Year! It’s already the middle of the month and I haven’t even posted! I am so sorry for my lack of care to all my blogging friends. I have no excuse. I wish I did. I wish I had something great like “I’ve been so busy creating that I’ve just lost track of time.” How about “I was soaking up the sun in some really exotic place and couldn't get my hands on ANY scrapping supplies.” I’ve got nothing though. Just a big I’m sorry and I promise to be better. There is one good thing coming out off all of this. I have placed and received my very first Close to my Heart order from the new idea book and have some wonderful projects to show you. In light of the new idea book I’ve decided to showcase one of the beautiful new paper packs each week for the next five weeks! This week I’ve decided to look at Emporium. I know you’ll just love the beautiful color combo’s in this paper, the fun new stickers and the oh so cute pewter brads. Here are a couple of cards I put together. I have a fun project and a layout to show you later. I hope you all enjoy and I can't wait to go blog hopping to all of yours to see what you've been up to!