Well, it is another sick day. A trip to the doctor later this morning confirmed that she had the foot/hand/mouth disease. {virus} I don't know why they call it a disease. Sounds REALLY bad as a disease. :D
Gratefully, she is likely no longer contagious as it started last week, and will be in the clear for Thanksgiving!
Pushing that back for a moment, how about some thing fun and not sick?
I found some blog crawls and scrappy contests you may want to check out.
- Echo Park has blog hop until November 25 - each DT blog will have a winner!
- Jamie Dougherty is a design team member at Shimmerz Paints (with some awesome video tutorials), and I saw that she linked up to their "thankful" blog hop today. There are some beautiful projects you can complete with their products. Check it out here: Shimmerz Paints
- Paper Issues is giving the chance to win a Reminisce holiday collection of papers. All you have to do is like them on Facebook!
20 November 2012
15 November 2012
Clinically Clean Finger Painting
Aurora is taking a sick day today. Poor little girl has a 102 temp (with baby Tylenol) and some icky congestion. The doctor prescribed some penicillin and hopefully she will be on the mend after a day or so.
As our week is taking a pause from normality, I thought I'd post about a better afternoon, when everyone was feeling great.
FINGER PAINTING!!!
Aurora is getting to the age where she is starting to like colors and marking things - pens, crayons...really, whatever we let her have. A random thought ran across my brain that she would like finger painting, but what a mess. I just can't get behind that idea with a toddler. I then ran across an older blog post by Kayla Aimee, where she has her little girl finger paint in a zip lock bag. Genius, right? I thought so too! So, I followed her instructions, and got Aurora all set up. She was completely into trying to open the zip lock {dear Lord, thank you for washi tape}, but wasn't too sure about the actual paint. She finally gave up trying to open the bag and did some poking around, a few slaps and voila!, art!
As our week is taking a pause from normality, I thought I'd post about a better afternoon, when everyone was feeling great.
FINGER PAINTING!!!
Aurora is getting to the age where she is starting to like colors and marking things - pens, crayons...really, whatever we let her have. A random thought ran across my brain that she would like finger painting, but what a mess. I just can't get behind that idea with a toddler. I then ran across an older blog post by Kayla Aimee, where she has her little girl finger paint in a zip lock bag. Genius, right? I thought so too! So, I followed her instructions, and got Aurora all set up. She was completely into trying to open the zip lock {dear Lord, thank you for washi tape}, but wasn't too sure about the actual paint. She finally gave up trying to open the bag and did some poking around, a few slaps and voila!, art!
13 November 2012
Scrapbooking retreat
Beware: this is going to be a long post with lots of scrapbooking photos.
I spent the last four days unwinding with some fellow scrapbookers. It was terrific! I ate too much, sat too long, went to bed too late, all to finish 19 layouts, getting me to 50 weeks of Aurora's 52 week album. My goal is to have one full size layout of for each week of her first year, and then fill in the gaps of busier weeks with a project life style insert. So, getting to 50 weeks is pretty exciting! I figure that if I only ever finish the 52 I'll be good. AND, she is only 16 months, so I'm not even that behind!
Here are the favorites from the layouts I finished:
1) My friend Kim Holmes had Elizabeth Karchner's Scrapbook Trend's Signature Series magazine at the crop, and was generous enough to share! I directly scraplifted from one of her layouts. :D Love it!
2) Another scraplift from Elizabeth Karchner's and Scrapbook Trend's Signature Series. This ombre {many questions came up with what ombre is...basically it is a gradient of color. The fashion world is using it for hair and nails right now} style is beautiful. I didn't realize there were 'mist-able' thickers, so I just used some that were fabric and felt, figuring the mist would do just fine with it, and it did great! I love how it turned out.
3) This layout was inspired by the beautiful designs of my friend Aimee Westcott. Her style is so detailed with plenty of white space.
4) This layout is a direct lift from Aimee Westcott - which diverges from her traditional style. :D The 'envelope' was the packaging from a sweet gift of scrap goodies from Marilyn McDonald. Sorry, the photo turned out terrible!
5) This layout was done from a 'grab bag'. The challenge is for all participants to put three papers and three embellishments into a paper bag. We then all take three of each out (blindly). There has been a bit of a learning curve, as the first time we played I pulled out a googly eye. Yes, a googly eye. I put some washi over it and called it good, but I still bring it up every time. Most people now put good elements into the bag. Even with current product, it is challenging as everyone has a different style, and pulling out a leopard print paper or a transparency frame is hard! Right, Andrea???
6) This crazy layout was a random thought I had, and it took forever. After getting it home I think it needs some little element additions, but otherwise, it is fun. It was also a bossy scrapper that required the following elements: four punches (clouds), sequins (fudged a bit with the shaped Martha glitter), something round (clouds), three photos (photos!), four patterned papers (clouds x2, matting x1, tiny tags on frames x2) washi tape (pink chevron), the color grey (ribbon on first photo mat) and an address tag Andrea provided (journaling spots). PHEW!
7) One of my favorites of the weekend is this last layout I'll post. This had some elements I lifted from Elizabeth Kartchner {I really need my own mason jar stamp!}. However, I really like the hand stitched chevron. Chevron is the new black, right?
I spent the last four days unwinding with some fellow scrapbookers. It was terrific! I ate too much, sat too long, went to bed too late, all to finish 19 layouts, getting me to 50 weeks of Aurora's 52 week album. My goal is to have one full size layout of for each week of her first year, and then fill in the gaps of busier weeks with a project life style insert. So, getting to 50 weeks is pretty exciting! I figure that if I only ever finish the 52 I'll be good. AND, she is only 16 months, so I'm not even that behind!
Here are the favorites from the layouts I finished:
1) My friend Kim Holmes had Elizabeth Karchner's Scrapbook Trend's Signature Series magazine at the crop, and was generous enough to share! I directly scraplifted from one of her layouts. :D Love it!
2) Another scraplift from Elizabeth Karchner's and Scrapbook Trend's Signature Series. This ombre {many questions came up with what ombre is...basically it is a gradient of color. The fashion world is using it for hair and nails right now} style is beautiful. I didn't realize there were 'mist-able' thickers, so I just used some that were fabric and felt, figuring the mist would do just fine with it, and it did great! I love how it turned out.
3) This layout was inspired by the beautiful designs of my friend Aimee Westcott. Her style is so detailed with plenty of white space.
4) This layout is a direct lift from Aimee Westcott - which diverges from her traditional style. :D The 'envelope' was the packaging from a sweet gift of scrap goodies from Marilyn McDonald. Sorry, the photo turned out terrible!
5) This layout was done from a 'grab bag'. The challenge is for all participants to put three papers and three embellishments into a paper bag. We then all take three of each out (blindly). There has been a bit of a learning curve, as the first time we played I pulled out a googly eye. Yes, a googly eye. I put some washi over it and called it good, but I still bring it up every time. Most people now put good elements into the bag. Even with current product, it is challenging as everyone has a different style, and pulling out a leopard print paper or a transparency frame is hard! Right, Andrea???
6) This crazy layout was a random thought I had, and it took forever. After getting it home I think it needs some little element additions, but otherwise, it is fun. It was also a bossy scrapper that required the following elements: four punches (clouds), sequins (fudged a bit with the shaped Martha glitter), something round (clouds), three photos (photos!), four patterned papers (clouds x2, matting x1, tiny tags on frames x2) washi tape (pink chevron), the color grey (ribbon on first photo mat) and an address tag Andrea provided (journaling spots). PHEW!
7) One of my favorites of the weekend is this last layout I'll post. This had some elements I lifted from Elizabeth Kartchner {I really need my own mason jar stamp!}. However, I really like the hand stitched chevron. Chevron is the new black, right?
06 November 2012
Burlap Wreath
A beautiful, local, boutique had a class in September to make a burlap wreath. The class at Grandiflora sold out in five minutes, so I didn't take the class. However, I'm {Fairly} crafty, and figured I could easily replicate it.
Here is the beautiful wreath they made for the class:
Going on the photo, I went for it.
Supply list:
1 Roll of burlap (6" wide)
1 Foam core
straight pins
colored burlap for flowers
With my SIL's help, we found the rolls of burlap at Joann and Michaels. Michaels was considerably cheaper, and with the 40% off coupon the price was really good. We cleared the shelves at both places {Hey! I was making five of them!}. We could have purchased burlap by the yard, but it takes a little more work as the edges aren't bound. If you aren't worried about the finished look, yardage may work well.
Foam cores were a bit more difficult. None at our Joann store, with some at Michaels. We ended up with some 16" wreaths, but would have liked larger ones. Next time I'll probably go to the hardware store and cut some length of foam insulation - then duct tape it. That way it can be any size.
Straight pins were in my stash. I used pins with larger heads, as the weave of the burlap was a little larger and I didn't want them to go through the burlap.
Colored burlap was nowhere to be found in Whatcom/Skagit county, so I went online and got some at this Esty shop. The price was reasonable, and her shipping quite fast. {Note; the dark brown was more like dark green. It was okay, but brown was really what I wanted.}
So, supplies gathered, I sat down while Aurora was napping, Loren was gaming, and put together some wreaths! Here is one of the wreaths that I kept for myself {I gave the others away}
Here is the beautiful wreath they made for the class:
 |
| see it online on the Grandiflora blog |
Going on the photo, I went for it.
Supply list:
1 Roll of burlap (6" wide)
1 Foam core
straight pins
colored burlap for flowers
With my SIL's help, we found the rolls of burlap at Joann and Michaels. Michaels was considerably cheaper, and with the 40% off coupon the price was really good. We cleared the shelves at both places {Hey! I was making five of them!}. We could have purchased burlap by the yard, but it takes a little more work as the edges aren't bound. If you aren't worried about the finished look, yardage may work well.
Foam cores were a bit more difficult. None at our Joann store, with some at Michaels. We ended up with some 16" wreaths, but would have liked larger ones. Next time I'll probably go to the hardware store and cut some length of foam insulation - then duct tape it. That way it can be any size.
Straight pins were in my stash. I used pins with larger heads, as the weave of the burlap was a little larger and I didn't want them to go through the burlap.
Colored burlap was nowhere to be found in Whatcom/Skagit county, so I went online and got some at this Esty shop. The price was reasonable, and her shipping quite fast. {Note; the dark brown was more like dark green. It was okay, but brown was really what I wanted.}
So, supplies gathered, I sat down while Aurora was napping, Loren was gaming, and put together some wreaths! Here is one of the wreaths that I kept for myself {I gave the others away}
05 November 2012
BEAUTIFUL MONDAY
Welcome to a beautiful Monday. Seriously. The sun is shining, the leaves are falling and Starbucks has salted caramel lattes {and peppermint mochas and caramel brulee}. ;)
- This is an amazing 'art' project my husband linked over today. Check out the wind patterns on this Wind Map.
- Gangnam Style. Get current, friends {read: AIMEE}, because Psy is awesome, and this song is just too fun.
- I talked to a mom who spent yesterday afternoon pulling a red wagon around the neighborhood so her daughter and friend could collect food for the families effected by Hurricane Sandy. Children have amazing and giving hearts if we let them. If we support them. If we show them by example. I can only hope Aurora is as thoughtful. {not sure how to actually get the food TO the NE; lol}
- Only four days to a long scrapbook weekend with 23 other fantastic ladies. This weekend cannot come fast enough! yea!
- This is an amazing 'art' project my husband linked over today. Check out the wind patterns on this Wind Map.
- Gangnam Style. Get current, friends {read: AIMEE}, because Psy is awesome, and this song is just too fun.
- I talked to a mom who spent yesterday afternoon pulling a red wagon around the neighborhood so her daughter and friend could collect food for the families effected by Hurricane Sandy. Children have amazing and giving hearts if we let them. If we support them. If we show them by example. I can only hope Aurora is as thoughtful. {not sure how to actually get the food TO the NE; lol}
- Only four days to a long scrapbook weekend with 23 other fantastic ladies. This weekend cannot come fast enough! yea!
02 November 2012
FRIDAY. IT IS FRIDAY, PEOPLE. CELEBRATE!
I found this post in the draft archive. It's age can be determined by the list of TV shows. RIP Arrested Development...
Toss the crock pot.
I have finally found the method for cooking a roast that I will actually eat and enjoy. I grew up with pot roast (please say that in a really dull, dead voice. p.o.t.r.o.a.s.t.) every Sunday after church - it was thrown in the oven before we left with some carrots, potatoes and stewed tomatoes. It was terrible. And EVERY Sunday. I kid you not. No gravy....but we did have white trash sauce. How gross is that???? My mom was/is not much of a cook. I could do a whole post on that. Anyhow, when I got married I flat refused to cook or eat or discuss anything ending in "roast", looking like "roast" or smelling like "roast". However, a couple of years ago, I started giving in and agreed to try a pork roast in a crock pot. I tried NC style, SC style, my own style, etc. They were ok. I didn't voluntarily put it on the menu for the week, but if it was slid in there, I could deal. Then, THEN! I started googling it, and thought I'd try a slow cook in the oven. I believe the initial inspiration came from The Pioneer Woman. Of course ;)
I now have the dish perfected so when I pull it out of the oven, Loren says "Guy Fieri would take a bite of this and say OHMYGOD, ohmygod, this is SO good" :D The down and dirty; I brine the meat for a day (8+ hours), then slow cook it for 8-14 hours. The site I found that I follow the closest for the recipe is off of a blog called Kevin and Amanda. The first few times I wasn't comfortable letting the roast cook overnight, but I did this last time b/c I was in a time pinch, and it worked out terrific. Mind you, it was odd waking up at 4am to the scent of pork roast. I tend to sleep longer than 8 hours on a weekend {obviously before Aurora made her appearance into our household}, so I lowered the temperature to 215 degrees, and the 4.5 lb pork roast was perfect in 10 hours.
TV CANDY: What are you all watching? Here's my list on the DVR and Netflix
The Amazing Race
Divine Design {I don't watch this nearly enough}
Covert Affairs
White Collar
Modern Family
Burn Notice
Bones {BLAH}
Arrested Development {RIP}
True Blood
Hoarders {HATE THIS SHOW NOW - so depressing}
Toss the crock pot.
I have finally found the method for cooking a roast that I will actually eat and enjoy. I grew up with pot roast (please say that in a really dull, dead voice. p.o.t.r.o.a.s.t.) every Sunday after church - it was thrown in the oven before we left with some carrots, potatoes and stewed tomatoes. It was terrible. And EVERY Sunday. I kid you not. No gravy....but we did have white trash sauce. How gross is that???? My mom was/is not much of a cook. I could do a whole post on that. Anyhow, when I got married I flat refused to cook or eat or discuss anything ending in "roast", looking like "roast" or smelling like "roast". However, a couple of years ago, I started giving in and agreed to try a pork roast in a crock pot. I tried NC style, SC style, my own style, etc. They were ok. I didn't voluntarily put it on the menu for the week, but if it was slid in there, I could deal. Then, THEN! I started googling it, and thought I'd try a slow cook in the oven. I believe the initial inspiration came from The Pioneer Woman. Of course ;)
I now have the dish perfected so when I pull it out of the oven, Loren says "Guy Fieri would take a bite of this and say OHMYGOD, ohmygod, this is SO good" :D The down and dirty; I brine the meat for a day (8+ hours), then slow cook it for 8-14 hours. The site I found that I follow the closest for the recipe is off of a blog called Kevin and Amanda. The first few times I wasn't comfortable letting the roast cook overnight, but I did this last time b/c I was in a time pinch, and it worked out terrific. Mind you, it was odd waking up at 4am to the scent of pork roast. I tend to sleep longer than 8 hours on a weekend {obviously before Aurora made her appearance into our household}, so I lowered the temperature to 215 degrees, and the 4.5 lb pork roast was perfect in 10 hours.
TV CANDY: What are you all watching? Here's my list on the DVR and Netflix
The Amazing Race
Divine Design {I don't watch this nearly enough}
Covert Affairs
White Collar
Modern Family
Burn Notice
Bones {BLAH}
Arrested Development {RIP}
True Blood
Hoarders {HATE THIS SHOW NOW - so depressing}
01 November 2012
Calendar Swap
I just saw this as I was cruising my blog lists -
the folks over at Design Crush are sponsoring a calendar swap.
FUN!
You could end up with a calendar supporting NPR
Or possibly a calendar sporting some great images of some vintage trailers!
{self reminder: post photos of the 2012 Vintage Trailer Rally)
Aftermath
So, it is the day after Halloween. I'm hearing stories of sugar crashes, headaches, nightmares and that is just the parents! :D We are terribly mean parents and only allowed Aurora to chew on a wrapper [true story]. She DID greatly enjoy greeting each Trick-or-Treater with a boisterous "HI!". AND, she allowed me to put her little hat on her head, KEPT it on, and didn't rip it off the moment we went inside. She kindly patted her head and said "Nah?Nah?Nah?"...Aurora speak for "please, momma, get this #$#BLEEP off me". Here is our precious little girl in her Old Navy owl costume [fantastic bargain at $15, in my opinion]:
Have you seen this video of Jimmy Kimmel last Halloween? No joking, this is the BEST PRANK EVER on kids. So, Jimmy challenged his viewers to tell their children they ate all of the Halloween candy, and then post the video on youtube. People; I didn't expect so much crying. These children MELT DOWN [Save the last kids, who are awesome]. I promise you will get a great laugh!
I finished the Bossy Scrapper for October! Just under the deadline, but, I DID IT! I had a 6" x 12" layout I did in March and wanted to complete a 12" x 12" for it's 'pair'. It worked out well. I initially wrote that I was most excited about the twine, but most challenged by washi, which was actually the exact opposite when it was time to complete. Just shows how inspiration changes during the creative process! I do realize I need more ribbon and washi. How about this crazy cute collection at Baum-Kuchen? Is masking tape washi????
 |
| OWL [AURORA] |
I finished the Bossy Scrapper for October! Just under the deadline, but, I DID IT! I had a 6" x 12" layout I did in March and wanted to complete a 12" x 12" for it's 'pair'. It worked out well. I initially wrote that I was most excited about the twine, but most challenged by washi, which was actually the exact opposite when it was time to complete. Just shows how inspiration changes during the creative process! I do realize I need more ribbon and washi. How about this crazy cute collection at Baum-Kuchen? Is masking tape washi????
 |
| OCTOBER 2012 BOSSY SCRAPPER |
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