Did you know that Bazzill has more than cardstock? Well, they sure do! The SRM Stickers team was sent a supply of Bazzill-icious products . . . patterned papers, flowers, gems, buttons, and more. I loved using it :)

This week the SRM blog is loaded with Bazzill + SRM projects. Today my layout is featured:



I went with a more masculine theme. With Father's Day coming up, I thought it appropriate. Be sure to check out all that Bazzill has to offer, and stop by the SRM blog for some AMAZING inspiration :)

That striped pattern piece is actually the packaging from the Bo Bunny gems.

I think this may be one of my favorite cards that I've made in awhile. Love the colors. Love the sun. Love the little pennants. And You Are My Sunshine is a song in my head all day long.

I made these swirlies with the Bo Bunny gems. They don't come this way. I drew the swirls with pencil first, then placed the gems and flowers over top.

This layout makes me happy. Merek with his grandpa makes him so happy. I love the playful feel of this page.

A fun new company was included in the kit, Simple Stories. Lots of great colors and designs. Be sure to view the rest of the Paper Posies Design Team gallery--beautiful projects to inspire you :)

I bought these clear glass rocks last month for a different project. But when my dad saw the wands and tubes from my last SRM box sitting on the table, he asked what I was going to put in them. Just to have fun, I asked if he had any suggestions. "Rocks?" was his answer. Actually, I had planned using the rocks--just in a different way with the tubes. Then earlier this month as I was reading scripture I decided to make these for the small group of ladies I visit each month to share a spiritual message.


The verses talk about building our foundation on a rock (Christ), to stand strong.

I just love these SRM wands and tubes for projects :) The wands are featured today on the SRM Blog--go check it out, tons of inspiration there!

SRM Sticker Sentiment #51015 Shine Your Light, SRM Wands and Tube
 
The products for the tags were in the April Polka Dot Whimsy kit.


I'm really looking forward to this 3-day weekend. What a wonderful way to end the month of May!

Any fun plans for the weekend? Do you do something special to honor Memorial Day?

Enjoy! :)

Do you have random thoughts that go through your head? As the day goes on, it amazes me how different the thoughts can be.

What book should I read next?

All of the natural disasters are so scary. Is this the beginning of the end?

Facebook is such a time waster, yet a great connector. Can't decide if I should cancel my account or not.

Eating healthy makes me feel great!

So happy that I exercised today.

Paige would tell me to not worry about that.

One brownie won't hurt.

I wonder how Hans' finger is doing.

Will Lina's finger heal well?

Please rain on Thursday.

That house on the corner has been for sale for a year now. Why is it not selling? What is wrong with it?

Merek is SO cute! I love that he is talking more and really trying to say words. Battery, jelly, puppet, Penny, park.

Hoping my relatives in Missouri are ok.

I've got to figure out how to organize the house. The garage needs to be cleaned.

Call Kim.

What's next on my to-do list? I feel like I'm forgetting something.

These are just a smidgen of thoughts from today. I think there needs to be some sort of device that would put my thoughts onto paper for me so I wouldn't have to write a list or worry about forgetting something. Ha!

Monday night I did Dance Central on Xbox for the first time. It was really fun and I considered the possibility of actually getting an Xbox for our family. However, we really don't have a good place to put it. The room our TV is in is not big enough to accomodate the actions required for the games.

Maybe if we got an Xbox we could get rid of cable . . . hmmm . . . but I really don't want the TV downstairs. I like it upstairs out of our main living area. Something to think about, and add to my list.

Have a wonderful day today :)

ps--Any good reads suggestions?

Here are a couple of cards I made recently using SRM stickers and kit products:


SRM Sticker Sentiments #51015 Shine Your Light, Polka Dot Whimsy April Main kit


SRM WGYSP #54001 Birdie, Hip 2-b Square March 2011 Kit



SRM Say It With Stickers #39030 Teacher, Polka Dot Whimsy April Main kit

These cards are featured today on the SRM blog. If you have minute, please visit there and leave me a comment. Thanks!

DH keeps asking me what I want for my birthday.

I don't know what to tell him--I don't WANT anything that can
be bought.

So here is my list:

1. More time with him--walks, picnics, markets, etc.
2. Individual dates with each of the kids.
3. Get rid of cable TV.
4. The flowers beds weeded.
5. A compliation of his amazing recipes.
6. For him to help me learn the guitar.
7. Chore coupons from the kids.
8. A lighter kids-activities schedule in the fall and next spring.
9. Morning walks.
10. Family game nights.

What do you WANT for your next birthday?

ps--Did I mention get rid of cable TV? ;)

(written on 5/9/2011)

Lina has a kindergarten reading buddy that she works with every other Friday. Lina couldn't remember how to say "every other" and kept saying "each and every" Friday they had reading buddies.

Miranda, ever the preteen, has started having blemishes on her face. Somehow she thought I called blackheads "blackjacks". So that is what she calls them. I wonder if her friends know what she is talking about.

Merek's vocabulary has exploded lately. He tries to repeat a lot of what we say to him. I love that he has started putting phrases together. Yet, he still calls some things by their sounds, i.e. horses are "yee-haws", dogs are "whoo-hoo", and birds are "gock". Today as we visited the farm animals at Bird's preschool, Barley the horse was not in his corral. I told Merek that the horse must be sleeping. So, for the 5-minute ride home, Merek kept repeating, "Yee-haw (snore), Yee-haw (snore)." It was quite funny because every time Merek would snore he would turn his head to the side, rest it on his car seat, and close his eyes.

Merek also calls going-to-bed "baby". He has a glow-worm baby he has slept with for a long time. Somehow "baby" became the word for bedtime.

He has a purple sippy cup with a yellow cover for the spout. Somehow this became his "yellow milk" and that is what he asks for. Every morning for breakfast he asks for cheerios. Last week I bought Apple Jacks. Now he wants "yellow cheerios".

Sunday he was asking about our neighbor friends, Henry and Matthew. He actually said "Hemry" and "Maa-ew". I told him that Henry was on an airplane going to California (they had just left that afternoon). So now this week, everytime he sees an airplane he says, "Hemry!" He did the same thing last week when Brad went to Australia. He'd say "daddy" every time an airplane or helicopter flew overhead.

Oh, and he is picking up on phrases, too. Again, observing the farm animals today, we stopped by the chicken coop. Merek stopped to watch them. After a few minutes, I said it was time to go. He replied, "mi-uht", which I believe meant "minute", as in "just a minute". He also calls the boys "guys". Today I asked him to say "Merek" to which he replied, "me". Then I said, "Say Curtis". He said, "guy".

Thanks for visiting my blog today. You can check out the Scarlet Lime May kits HERE.

Have a wonderful day :)

Polka Dot Whimsy's April Main kit had a beautiful vintage feel to it. Lots of pretty trims and lovely paper patterns. I loved the bright colors of yellow and red thrown in as well. I made one layout and three cards with the kit, as well as tags for some SRM wands. But two of the cards and the wands will be shown in later posts :)

The layout I made is about Miranda. How I love this girl! She recently has started taking on bigger responsibilities, including mowing the lawn. (We really don't have a big lawn, though). I remember mowing the lawn when I was growing up. It was one of my jobs to do to earn allowance. I think I earned $10 or $15 dollars. But we had a HUGE lawn and it took me at least two hours to do the job. Our current lawn is about a 20 minute job. Nevertheless, it is a good chore for Miranda--and I think DH likes that she mows as well.

For this card I just knew I wanted to use the "Be Yourself" tag from the Pink Paislee paper. I misted the Jillibean Soup corrugated button with Mr. Huey Apple Green.
The fourth card I made with the kit is coming up in a later post :)

Tuesday morning I attended a "Core Strength" class at the gym. Ever since beginning Physical Therapy last fall, I knew my "core" needed strengthening so I thought this class sounded good. It WAS good, but different than I thought. The instructor, Travis, had us doing 1-minute intervals at different stations with 15-seconds in between each station. There were 9 stations in all--3 for legs, 3 for arms, and 3 for abs. We rotated legs, arms, abs, legs, arms, abs, etc. We went through the rotation 3 times. It was crazy-intense but I LOVED every single minute of it! Totally my type of exercising. And I'm excited that I have a personal-training session with Travis Friday morning (a free one was part of my membership packge) because I can tell he is the type of trainer that will motivate me AND loves his job. But, my muscles sure are SORE! Good thing Wednesday is yoga . . . aaahhhh. :)

So last night was my first time attending a Zumba class. I've been wanting to try Zumba for at least a year now. As much as I loved the concept of it, I was disappointed in the class. It was the first time the instructors had taught Zumba, so they didn't really know what they were doing. A lot of stop and go, and repetition as they tried to figure out what to do next. With my teaching background (in physical education) I'm probably a bit too critical. That being said, they did have a good amount of energy and I will probably try the class a few more times, with hopes that they will get better.

Or, maybe I'll just try out some other Zumba classes in the area. Honestly, I can see myself totally loving it and even maybe teaching it. Funny thought, I know.

After I came home, I did a 12-minute Hip Hop routine On Demand and enjoyed that. Dancing is definitely going to be a part of my new exercise routine.

And now on to some creative endeavors . . .

The March Hip 2-b Square kit was full of variety. I love how many different manufacturers Kimberly combines in a kit. With the kit and add-ons, I made four single-page layouts and four cards--but I still have a TON left over to make many more projects. Here are the layouts:



I actually took a lighter to the wood letters to burn the edges a bit.

I colored the wood letters with Mr. Huey mist.


The flower is made out of layers of tissue paper.

Thanks for visiting :)

Mother's Day was wonderful! I woke up with a 2-year-old's face pressed next to mine. He had climbed into bed with us at 3am. DH and the kids made french toast for breakfast.

After we returned home, I took a short nap in the sunshine shining through the girls' window. It rained on and off today but the sun did peek out occasionally. We talked to my MIL on the phone. DH made a simple yummy lunch of tuna melts. Lina put together a little array of snacks for the afternoon--crackers and cheese, apples, and trail mix. Merek was getting a little cranky so I held him for a few minutes on the couch--and he fell asleep in my lap! That doesn't happen very often, but I'll sure take it in Mother's Day!

Miranda made brownies for dessert--my favorite :) Apparently we had run out of oil so she substituted applesauce instead. They were yummy!

Now that I have eaten so much food it is a good thing I bought myself a gym membership for Mother's Day :) I'm planning to go to my first Zumba class tomorrow night--can't wait!

I feel so blessed today. My family made the day very special for me. Every day I count my blessings but it is fun to have days like this set aside where we can really reflect and focus on what really matters in our lives.

Happy Mother's Day!

My kids have been so excited the past few days and keep asking me, "Are you ready for Sunday?" :)

Mother's Day 2010

Apparently, they have all sorts of things planned. Can't wait! DH just got home Friday after a week long trip to Australia and Singapore. He was thrown into the preparations today.

We have our milk delivered each week from Smith Brothers Farms. They sent out an email today thanking all of the moms out there. I loved the sentiments they shared:

Thanks for waking up in the middle of the night to scare away monsters and rub tiny backs.



Thanks for waking up at the crack of dawn to reinvent sandwiches for school lunches, make a healthy breakfast, and guide everyone through the rest of the morning routine without tears.


Thanks for counting to 10 before reacting to a toddler’s or teenager’s tantrum.


Thanks for endlessly rounding up necessary gear and hauling kids to and from afterschool activities.


Thanks for doing all the little things that make birthdays and holidays special.


Thanks for your masterful scheduling to keep everyone on time and where they need to be, even when you have a million obligations of your own.


Thanks for knowing when to talk, when to be quiet, and when to give a hug.


Thanks for knowing how to fix and mend all the little toys, the clothes, the homework projects, the feelings, the scrapes, and the sniffles.


Thanks for remembering where everyone keeps their special stuff.


Thanks for loving your children unconditionally.


Thanks for taking care of yourself so you can continue to be a good mom.



Because I know she'll read this, I want to take the opportunity to say "I love you" to my mom.



Mom and Lina on my birthday last year.

Thank you, mom, for believing in me.
Thank you for always supporting me in my endeavors.

Thank you for attending my sporting events.

Thank you for helping me study my spelling and vocabulary words.

Thank you for making me hot breakfasts M-Th (I still remember M/W was oatmeal, T was eggs, and Th was pancakes).

Thank you for sewing me practically anything I needed or wanted.

Thank you for taking me shopping to Nordstrom.

Thank you for holding me in your lap--even when I was too big to be there.

Thank you for trusting me to drive your Mustang.

Thank you for braiding my hair countless times.

Thank you for teaching me how to make the best chocolate chip cookies--EVER!

Thank you for putting up with my less-than-perfect teenage years.

Thank you for being there--ALWAYS!

Today's the day! Celebrate scrapbooking! :)

Over at the SRM blog several layouts are featured today showcasing SRM stickers. Here is the one I created for the day:
I used the SRM Express Yourself Everyday Life stickers to complete my title and journaling. It was a really fun process!

Head over to the SRM blog today--there is a layout challenge and if you post over there today they are picking a handful of commentors to received some SRM stickers.

Are you doing anything this weekend to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day?

I made this last fall using Elle's Studio calendar tags as the main part of each page. Each page measures 4x4 inches. I kept the designs the same for each month, just changing the way it was embellished.


This card is found in the May 2011 CARDS Trends issue. Funny thing--I had to recreate this card after submitting it. I had given it away to Lina's Reading Buddy at the end of the school year. If you see the card in the mag, maybe you will be able to find the subtle differences. I could not find the MLS sheet with the die cut for the pocket, so I substituted a blue-lined Post-it note. :)