the moments in between

wordless wednesday : skateboard, snow boots, short sleeves

(happy wednesday, everyone!)

1.1.2011 + a 2peas valentine's day sale

i've got a new page up at 2peas! this one's for their weekly challenge - and i'm asking you all to get messy & break out the paint splattered backgrounds. i went with mist for mine, since it's quick and easy and has almost no dry time - i posted a few tips along with my page. you have till thursday to get your entries in - i can't wait to see what everyone does.

(copyright 2peasinabucket / supplies : martha shaped glitter + ek dotted circle punch + sc veneer stars & frame + maya road sunflower, turquoise & iridescent pearl + sc mister huey's sunshine + sc elementary label stickers + mme fine and dandy true blue snappy pp + mme fine and dandy true blue daydream pp + mme alphabet soup super stripes pp + basic grey hopscotch playground pp + basic grey wander embark pp + ac city park mixtape + bg wander chip alpha)

2peas is having a valentine's day sale - i've got a coupon code for you. ;) enter VDAY11 in the coupon field at checkout for  15% off an order w/ a subtotal of $25 or more in physical product. (the fine print : good thru 2/15 at 11:59 PM CST. cannot be used in conjunction w/ any other coupons, no adjustments on previous orders allowed, gift certificates & taxes not applicable toward minimum purchase)

there's lots of new stuff coming in...  i've got my eye on the new my mind's eye stella and rose. LOVE the brad sets so, so much - and these label stickers, too. the above pic is what came in my last box - some martha vday tape, the new american crafts campy trails line, some mme fine and dandy (loving the brads and the sheet of chipboard embellishments), sass paper crush & a wee bit of the am crafts love line). i've got big plans w/ these goodies today. =)

happy tuesday! i've got a whole lot of scrapping to do today.... so i've got to get moving while sam's at school. have a good day, everyone!

dear february + into the woods

dear february : please send more 65 degree days. it was the perfect break from the february blahs. there are now flipflops lined up next to the snowboats, because we're ambitious like that in the midwest.

on the downside? the lake that formed on our sidewalk from the rapid snow melt. we did our best to try and clear it out, but it beat us. sigh.

march sneaks are up at studio calico!! i saw a comment from cynthia on twitter that the sneaks conjure up images of staying in a vintage cabin - and i am in love with that description! it fits. these sneaks were in the slideshow but i'll share them again here so you can look at your leisure. ;)

(INTO THE WOODS + tiny attacher + double embossed scallop punch + martha pinking punch + circle punch)

(MOSSY KNOLL + double embossed scallop punch + tiny attacher)

happy valentine's day! the bigs both have school parties today, and sam and i are planning to make some cupcakes. matthew and i had our big night out on friday - all of the fun, without the crazy crowds.  we ended up seeing the king's speech - totally loved it. thanks to all of you who threw in your recommendations!!

currently

loving : preschool vday parties

pondering : the plan for today. the bigs have early dismissal. and i have a long list of to dos.

loving : the 5 day forecast. highs of 36, 41, 45, 43 & 49.

anticipating : a weekend at my desk. excited about new goodies and fun assignments.

cursing : the day i opened the angry birds app

wearing : jeans and a cozy cardi.

deciding : what movie to see tonight. the king's speech and the company men are the frontrunners.

eating : archer farms romano garlic sourdough twists. we were out of yogurt.

planning : some giveaways for studio calico's facebook and twitter fans.... stay tuned today. ;)

sorting out : spring sports, and summer camp & vacation plans for the summer. which seems a tidge surreal with snow on the ground.

wishing : you all a happy friday and a wonderful weekend! =)

 

 

 

on the shelf : percy jackson

(i kinda dropped this feature over the holidays + cha rush - but i'm excited to be bringing it back into rotation. i love looking back at the older posts i've done and remembering what i've read w/ the boys)

the percy jackson series by rick riordan : the lightning thief, the sea of monsters, the titan's curse, the battle of the labyrinth & the last olympian

alex picked the first percy jackson up through a book order. rick riordan wrote a couple of the 39 clues books, so i figured he was a safe bet to help alex branch out to a new series. he finished it and had us at the library collecting the second one in no time.

the basic premise of this series is that percy jackson discovers he's a half blood - his father is a greek god, his mother is a mortal.  the greek gods are alive and well, and apparently friendly with the mortals, because there's a whole camp full of half bloods who spend their lives plagued by monsters trying to kill them. through out the series, there are several threats against percy and all of mortal civilization, and he and his half blood friends have to make things right.

it's a really well written series.  it doesn't talk down, but is still age appropriate. i picked up the first book after alex, because we like to read what they're reading from time to time - and i was sucked in. alex and i ended up fighting over final book last week - luckily he's not very good at hiding things. ;) we redboxed the movie one weekend and both alex and ben loved it - so we've started reading the series together at night.  we're halfway through the sea of monsters.

the coolest part about this is that the bigs are now totally into learning about greek mythology. having a solid knowledge of those stories will definitely serve them well in lit classes in the future. 

currently reading : 

alex - the lost hero, rick riordan (this is a new series that happens after the percy jackson books. he's keeping it at school so i can't finish it before him. hmph)

ben - miss holly is too jolly, dan gutman (i've gotta get this boy to read books that AREN'T weird school daze or captain underpants. sigh)

sam - great big book of spacey snakey buggy riddles, simms taback

to pin or not to pin

so there's this thing called pinterest.  i first heard about it last year when it started popping up on some of my favorite design blogs. then it started creeping into the scrapbook community. i mostly ignored it, as i love tumblr. and then matthew sent me an invite. and curiousity finally got the best of me.

i can't decide if i like it or tumblr better.  i do like the boards - it's an easier way to divide things out by topic. it's easier to see things TOGETHER. i don't like that i don't have a handy app to use on my phone, the way tumblr does. and the main screen of pinterest makes my eyes go a little wiggy - it's hard for me to sort through the pins from my friends and find things i want to add to my own boards. i definitely prefer the tumblr interface for that.

do you pin? do you tumble? what do you prefer? right now i'm tempted to use pinterest for home decor inspiration and keep the craft goods on tumblr...  but that seems overly complicated. i'm totally overthinking this, right?

happy wednesday! i'm going to stop thinking about this and meet the girls for bagels. =) 

three & two

i've got a new page up at 2peas! i actually started this page a long, long, LONG time ago. it just wasn't working so i stuck it away, half finished, until i was ready to try again. i'm so glad i took that little break in the middle, because i love how it turned out. 

(copyright 2peas in a bucket) (supplies - ac sunflower cardstock : pp -  bg wander roundtrip & oliver trey, mme alphabet soup super stripes, animal kingdom & ledger, mme fine and dandy fabulous & snappy, crate school spirit chemistry, sassafras mix and mend fancy free & ac city park greenbelt gardens : rubons : 7gs number rubbings : buttons - jbs cream : tape - 7gs paper tape : chipboard - mme alphabet soup : flower - sassafras in a stich : title - mm slice + handwritten cart)

it all started with the monster on the stack of hats. okay, it all started with a pig on a stack of hats on the title spread of "if you give a pig a party" - i've posted the inspiration pic with the page over at 2peas. from there, i started looking through pics. and i have to admit - i have terrible luck with birthday party pics. it is ALWAYS overcast when we have bday parties - how does that happen? i ended up going w/ a mix of color and black and white, and making them little.  even bad pics look cute when they're little. =) i made them into mini polaroids and taped them to my background, and then added captions. i'm planning on using one of the ki 12x12 pockets to do a facing page for this to hold all of his bday cards.

also, i just noticed that the handwritten cartridge for the slice is 50% off at 2peas. $25 for 6 fonts. you can't beat that!! this cart is in my slice 90% of the time. it's the one i'll miss the most when i finally get the nerve to upgrade to a silhouette. ;)

and the two part of the title....  well, that's the high today. TWO. yeah, i'm not impressed.  i'm putting my errands off till tomorrow, i don't want to be out there anymore than i have to!! i hope it's warmer where you are. =) hard to believe  it was in the high 30s this weekend and the bigs spent hours and hours outside having snowball fights w/ the neighbors.

happy tuesday, friends! i've got another 1.5 hrs of a quiet house, a diet coke, and a really long to do list. wish me luck!

5 years ago

(Supplies: cardstock - ac vanilla; patterned paper - elementary atmosphere, elementary penmanship, countryside wildflower, state fair midway; stickers - yellow label stickers, state fair label stickers, countryside label stickers; chipboard - state fair chipboard alphabet; tag - countryside die cut tags; veneer - veneer frames; other : foam adhesive, tiny attacher)

seriously. FIVE years ago?  they are old enough to have not been BABIES five years ago?? it kind of boggles the mind, doesn't it?

it was my turn to do a weekly challenge on the studio calico blog, and i honestly had no clue what i wanted to do. i decided to start with a photo and then figure it out from there - but i was having trouble finding something i wanted to scrap! i decided to hit my OLD photo files - and thought it would be fun to see what we were doing in past februarys. i found this one. back when the bigs were the only two. back when they weren't so big. ben is younger than sam is now! love. printed them immediately. total rush of emotion seeing those little faces. and giggles remembering them going around and around the house in circles on this car. i think i need to add some additional journaling to the back or as a facing page - i honestly couldn't process through all my thoughts well enough to get them on paper.

so this week's challenge = same month, different year.  there's a $5 gc to studio calico up for grabs - check out the blog post for all the details.  i'm looking forward to seeing what everyone does!

happy monday, friends! i'm crossing my fingers for a normal week. no holidays. no snow days. no sickies. no travel. we haven't  had one of those since before christmas, and i need it!! i'm still trying to dig my way out of the mess on my desk - i scrapped on the floor this weekend. totally motivated by becky's studio revamp & craving PINK walls. i don't suppose that will go over well here. ;) i'm plugging away on project life, too - i'll be sharing that later this week. 

home.

i hugged friends. i ooh-ed and aaah-ed over new product. i matched colors. i got catalogs. i spent nearly $4 to get my fountain diet coke fix at the convention center. i didn't get anywhere near enough sleep.i didn't spend much time in the sc booth - i was out helping to track down product for upcoming kits. we found some good stuff. ;)  

my favorites (outside of studio calico, which goes without saying!)

crate toy box. my number one can't wait to get it gotta have of the show. the little boy on the sam's toy store sticker looks like sam.  it was meant to be.

hambly. mostly the washi tape, which is just as beautiful in person, but i loved the woodgrain and bird on a wire overlays.

american crafts. wasn't sure about some of the papers online, totally in love in person. the camping line has so many cool woodgrains, and i love the kraft pieces in hello sunshine.

 

smash. i don't know how many times we drug new people into this booth.  love.love.love. such a fun concept, and the pieces will work in traditional scrapbooks, too. they were getting a lot of buzz, and it was well deserved. looking forward to seeing more from them.

sassafras. the starters line is even more beautiful in person - i need it all!

epiphany crafts. loving the button tool. i don't think it's new, but i know i'll be getting one.

i love being a part of this company. i love spending time with them in person. i love that april and greg ask our opinions and take them to heart. i love that we can talk mommy stuff and life stuff and scrap stuff and that i feel like i've known them all forever.

when my boys picked me up, sam came bolting for me and jumped into my arms. the bigs let me hug them. and my sweet husband not only had a hug and a kiss for me, he had a mcd's diet coke waiting in the car. love him. love them. there's no place like home.

happy friday, friends.