My Lil’ Valentines

I was trying to take a teeny sip of my hot coffee when I realized I forgot to take pictures of my kids homemade valentines today, thereby singe-ing off most of my tastebuds.  It’s not like they were contest-winners or anything, but they did work hard on them, and I like to keep a visual record of their art.

So anyway, here are my little valentines on the way to our elementary school’s Have-a-Heart party.  And why did Savannah win a cake at the cakewalk?  Because I started Weight Watchers this week.  Thank you, Murphy’s Law!



HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, EVERYONE!~

Dora Explorer Birthday party

Let me just get this out of the way…I hate Dora!  And I don’t mean roll my eyes at the sound of her voice hate her, but seriously loathe everything about her: the way she screeches, her too-big head, and how her clashing neon ensemble burns into my corneas so that I continue to see it when I look away.  However, Madeline is smitten, so if it’s a Dora party she wants…

Her backpack party invitations opened to reveal a map (who has an equally nauseating voice) with the party information.

It was a gorgeous, albeit windy October afternoon, and the guests arrived to play on the playset, our entire collection of Little Tikes, and our moon bounce ($100 at a yardsale, half the price of renting.)

I read the kids one of Madeline’s favorite books, Dora’s Spooky Halloween adventure- basically Swiper swipes their candy and they go on an adventure to find it.  So….

this is where it came in really handy having land.  I was able to recreate the story by setting up a spooky forest, a pumpkin patch where they each got to pick a pumpkin, and a haunted house- our Little Tikes climbing gym decorated like a haunted house where they eventually found the candy (the pinata).

We’re also lucky to have a willing and tolerant 7 year-old sister to play Swiper.  I’ve never heard little ones scream, “Swiper, no swiping!!” with such conviction.
Of course the party couldn’t be perfect because la pinata plan back-fired just a tad.  The stupid Dora pinata only allowed you to fill the body with treats.  How silly is that when her head could easily hold another 5 lbs?  So I filled the head too.  I’m hoping the decapitation is long forgotten by now, but I still giggle when I see this pic of Madeline’s reaction.

And finally, we came back to the porch to paint the pumpkins and have cake and ice cream.  Hopefully, this full and fun-filled day was enough to fill her Dora love-tank for a long time (read: forever).

Mom’s Best Recipes- book

I actually made two of these little books (for sale at the Bazaar on 21st), one for mom and one for grandma.  My favorite part is now that my kids are past the board book stage, I can alter them into cute art projects.
What inspired this project was thinking about the mothers that are sending their kids off to college for the first time, maybe one graduating from college and headed off into the world.  Or maybe someone has an aging mother and wants to get her recipes down before they’re gone.  Sentimental, I know…

Close up of the paper flower my friend Melissa Laverty taught us how to make using 5 punched flowers and a spray bottle.

And here are the inside pages that will hold 10 of your favorite go-to recipes. 

The left-hand side is actually the dedication page where you would put a photo of your mother/grandmother with information about her.




THANKS FOR LOOKING!~

TAPS Ghost-Hunting Investigative Journal

This one is going to take some explaining…

Ever since we moved here in 2005, we’ve had lots of “unexplained activity.” I’m loathe to use the “H” word for fear of freaking out my kids, but even my husband has come around to the fact that we’re not alone. We’ve experienced the gamut from playful to truly freaky, and they/it (?) have made it very clear visitors are not welcome. It usually just manifests by blowing several light bulbs as soon as our guests leave, so we’ve adjusted by keeping a ready supply.

Imagine the temper tantrum “they/it” threw when I volunteered to host Thanksgiving. That week we lost my laptop (a friend wiped it clean and reinstalled everything), my Nikon D40 digital camera lens (got a new one for Christmas), our Direct TV (only for a couple hours), and our heavy stained glass kitchen light fixture came crashing down on my daughter hurting her pretty badly. Just recently, dangling Christmas lights shocked the hell out of my visiting brother only to find they were unplugged.

Long story, long…my rockin’ 6 year-old nephew is obsessed with the TV show TAPS- The Atlantic Paranormal Society. This kid knows his stuff, and has offered some pretty good advice. All he asked for for Christmas was the EVP app downloaded to my sister’s phone and a visit to my house to put it to good use, making him (I’m pretty sure) the youngest paranormal investigator out there.

They’re visiting this weekend, so I made him this little journal to log all his evidence. Normally I would include a matching pen, but I didn’t think it stood a chance of leaving this house. I have mixed feelings about hoping he finds what he’s looking for…


I don’t think he’ll need the glossary, so it’s there for his parents.  ; )

2011 New Year Goals Display

I’m really excited about this one.  Setting a goal and putting a plan into place to reach it are truly part of my Capricornian nature.  (Although I tend to be a little Pisces about seeing it to fruition sometimes…no offense to you Pisces…)
Here is a display I created to feature our family’s individual goals for 2011.  Keeping it right in the kitchen will hopefully be a daily reminder to tighten up!


You can’t exactly read our goals, so if you’re interested…
RICH- 
     * Lose 15 lbs. by Hawaii (June)
     *  Be more positive about myself
CORI-
     *  Pay off credit card
     *  average 2 scrapbook pages a week
     *  Do a pull-up
Savannah (5)-
     *  Learn to tie her shoes
     *  Ride a two-wheeler
Madeline (3)-
     *  (unintelligible scribbling)
     *  Consistent letter practice and write her name
Lexi (7)-
     *  Read 2nd Guardians of Ga’Hoole book by myself
     *  Earn 3 ribbons in Fine Arts Fair

And here are some more detailed pics of the display. 

I used CTMH’s “Aspen” paper for a nice wintry look and liquid glass to make the letters pop.  My Cricut came in pretty handy for the letters and snowflakes- Storybook, Plantin Schoolbook, and Christmas Cheer.

And of course, my trusty never-ending supply of stickles gave a nice icicle glitter to the flakes.
I have to take a moment to brag on my husband (and myself) for reaching a major LIFETIME goal just this past Christmas.
When we got married, we were a whopping 600 lbs. combined.  I looked more like a rotund snowwoman than the ice princess look I was going for at our Christmas wedding.  We could barely get our arms around each other, much less have Richard carry me bride-style over the threshhold.  It’s always been a little romantic wish of mine for my husband to be able to whisk me up.  (Some call it the Fireman’s carry- I call it bride-style.)
2010 was dedicated to our health and to date, I’ve dropped 110 lbs. (size 22 to size 12), and my husband is down 75 lbs.  Just before Christmas he made me get up on a kitchen chair and go for it!  It wasn’t “whisking me up,” but he did it, even took several steps, and said, “that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”  Hooray!  And Merry Christmas to me (us)!
Thanks for looking!

Friends layout

Wow!  I hope your computer is interpreting the colors here better than mine.  That hunter’s orange is actually a softer peach in real life, but whatever.  I had a lot of CTMH’s “Key to My Heart” paper left over and decided it was perfect for friendship. 
I always enjoy seeing how the girls alter the layout to make it their own.  Some scrap teachers leading a layout claim there is a “right” way, but in art, my philosophy is whatever goes!  Gluing the pages together facing each other is the only line I’ve had to draw thus far.  : )

Jingle Christmas scrapbook layout

My 11 little scrapbook club ladies may only be ages 5-10, but they are hard-core scrappers!  We’re pulling out all the stops, not to mention glitter, snowflakes, and even some freehand drawing.  This is one of the two layouts we completed at our last meeting New Year’s Day.  Gotta love the Jingle paper from Close to my Heart.  Who knew red and pink could work together?  CTMH’s Building Block stamp set (“Merry”) is probably the set I use the most.  I just realized I DIDN’T use my Cricut on this page.  I guess there’s hope for me afterall!…