Holiday Stampaganza 2009

Stamp lovers rejoice! I'm so excited about this promotion!!!  This usually happens early in the year so when those months came & went with no Stamapanza campaign I wondered how I'd stock up on my favorite stamps this year.  And even worse, I knew you guys had been looking forward to it as well.  So for the first time (we've never done a promotion like this so close to the holidays) and this month only, buy two CTMH stamp sets, get one FREE. What a great way to stock up on your favorite stamps or better yet, make gift giving more affordable. This is a great way to help Santa mark someone's favorite stamps off their wish list (yours included)!

Get more details at http://leopard.myctmh.com/

We're Off To See The Wizard

the wonderful Wizard of Oz because, because, because, because, because ...
I always loved Halloween as a child but I never truly LOVED it until I was able to experience it with my own kids.  It's just been recently that we've really made dressing up a family affair.  It's all been driven by our oldest daughter's choice of costumes.  Last year she chose to be Alice in Wonderland, even though she had never seen the movie.  So daddy was the Madd Hatter and I chose to be the Queen of Hearts.  Baby R was born 3 weeks early and 4 days before Halloween.  The day after I got home from the hospital I made her a rabbit costume.  I must have been delirious from lack of sleep because not only did I pull off a rabbit costume for a small newborn but I also still had to make my costume.  Look how cute we were (and excuse my 3 day post baby belly, booty and ankles).

So fast forward to Halloween 2009, our daughter informs us that she wants to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  Again, another movie she had never seen.  I still can't figure out how she chooses these characters but I love it.  So we buy the costume, and the movie.  Can you believe my shy 6 year old little girl was not scared of it and cried at the end?  It was so sweet and it was the first time she really empathized with a character.  It only made sense for the rest of us to complete the cast.  Baby R was the Cowardly Lion, I was the Tin Man and daddy was the scarecrow.  We had a wonderful time singing and skipping down the Yellow Brick Road.

I love that we are building lasting family memories for our children and can't wait to scrapbook this!

My Baby Is One!!!

Time flies when you're havin' fun, right?  It's hard to believe that 1 year ago today I saw my sweet baby girl R for the first time.  For 8 1/2 months, I wondered whether or not she'd look like her big sister. I could only imagine what her personality would be like.  Would she have brown or blue eyes?  The list goes on and each day I would start to learn more and more about her.

I promised myself that I wouldn't do what everyone says they do with their 2nd child and not take as many pictures.  I've done my best this first year but I do have to agree that it's hard with all the activity, and hustle & bustle of a multi-child household and full time working mom.

I hoped to have 75% of her 1st year scrapbooked and preserved by now.  I'm a far cry from that.  Not only am I so far from that goal but now I'm even more behind on Rheagan's book.  I think I need to get away for a weekend scrapbooking retreat with my girlfriends and SOON!  In the meantime, I'm going to print contact sheets so I can figure out pics, make my sketches and take a few days off and just devote it to playing a little catch-up. Maybe I'll start with Baby R's 1st birthday party pics and work backwards.  Then again, maybe not. 

Speaking of Baby R's 1st birthday, we celebrated a few days early this past weekend.  Great food, awesome family, fun times and TONS of pictures to scrapbook!

Everyday Celebration Cards

OMG, these cards are so cute! I can't take credit for designing them but I did make these. As part of National Stamping Month, CTMH (Close To My Heart) came out with this oh so cute card kit. It included everything needed to create 16 cards, including the stamp set, inks, paper, ribbon and metal embellishments (case bases and envies too). It is what inspired me to take a stab at making hand-made Christmas cards this year for friends and family (photos coming soon)! Take a look at the cards below. Wait 'til you see what else I have in store this holiday season.

Reinvention

I've got my priorities in order and with that I am feeling so inspired! I've been so good at dedicating time for my family. We've done some FABULOUS things together this year and I've captured photographic memories of them. What I haven't done is preserve them through my passion for scrapbooking. I've also got a history of being the "QUEEN OF UNFINISHED PROJECTS" when it comes to scrapbooking. I've got the layouts but no title, or I have the layout but need to print the photos, or the layouts are missing the embellishments that tie it all together ... you get the picture. Well guess what??? I am reinventing my scrapbooking, I'm embracing social media and I'm going to make Close To My Heart a crucial part of making sure I fulfill this promise to myself and my customers are going to benefit!

Coming soon ... new layouts, sketch challenges, giveaways, card making, gift ideas and more. Stay tuned for pics of a recent card kit I made. The cards are TDF cute! I'll also post upcoming workshops and crop nights!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Project 365

Is a great way to visualize capture all that 2009 has in store for us. My photography friends let me onto this project and then I read about it in Creating Keepsakes. I'm gonna jump on board and participate. Now I just need to think of a creative way to scrap this challenge; perhaps I will check out Becky Higgins' blog for ideas or make up my own, that I'm not sure of but what I will try to do is post the pics here.

I've been busy this past week thinking of ways to make my crop events exciting for my gals. I've put together some awesome make-n-takes and am developing monthly sketch challenges. I cannot wait to reveal them at the crop this weekend.

I've really enjoyed my maternity leave. Obviously spending quality time with my girls is the best but I'm at the point where, although I'm still tired from waking up for feedings, Reese doesn't have me up quite as much. So I've hit the gym to work off these baby pounds (and there's a lot to work off) but the fun part is that I am scrapping while she is sleeping during the day instead of napping. With all this extra time to scrap I am finding my creativity is flowing again. It's been a while since I've had the mental freedom for this. Between work and children it seemed like that projects I was doing last year were good but not FABULOUS and many were scraplifted. I was under a lot of stress. So I am enjoying the changes I've experienced now that my mind is less cluttered. I am going to make a promise to myself to not slip back into the rut. I have January's sketch in my head. I will post it once I draw it.

I'm signing off to go take my picture of the day.

Make Life Happen

That's my new motto. I haven't posted since before Christmas because there was so much going on ... from crafting to shopping to family and of course Santa's big visit. While the fam was in town my husband & I had a date night. We went and saw Yes Man. It was pretty funny but most importantly it actually made a profound impact on me. I work FT, have children and have a small craft business. I have just realized that my kiddos are suffering from it. When we could be going to the museum, park, zoo, etc. we are usually at home de-stressing (sometimes playing enthusiastically, other times half-heartedly). That's not always bad but they need some culture, damnit. So I will be saying "yes" more often than "no" from here on out and see where it takes us. If the weather stays nice this week I think I'll pull Rheagan out of pre-K for the day and take her and Reese to the zoo. If it's cold, we'll go to a museum.

I'm also going to say "yes" to myself more often and find more time to feed my passion for scrapbooking my girls. I think I'm going to start with a mini album and maybe I'll even win some cool items. Check out this cute album and the Cosmo Cricket giveaway.

So, are you a yes man or no man??????

According to Rheagan

it's officially Christmas-time! About a week ago I was driving my 5 year old, Rheagan, to school in the morning and she asked me when it was going to snow here in Houston. I told her that it probably wouldn't snow here because well, it pretty much never snows in H-town (the last time it snowed was Christmas Eve 2004). Rheagan said, "Okay well, when it snows it'll be Christmas-time" and we left it at that. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon and what do you know? It snowed! Rheagan was at school so I quickly put Reese in her carseat and jumped in the car to go pick up Rheagan. I had no idea if it was snowing at her school and if so, would they take the kids out, nor did I know if it would be snowing by the time we got back home, about 40 minutes later. All I know is that I couldn't take the chance of denying a child's innocence that it was officially Christmas-time. Luckily it did snow at school and they did take them out to see it because by the time we got home, it had stopped snowing and none of it stuck to the ground. Rheagan said to me, "Mommy, it snowed today so it's Christmas". My heart just melted because what some people take for granted, my little girl found such joy, if even for just a moment. This snow symbolized that Santa was here. We decorated the tree last night and by the time we were done, it was snowing again. I was in another room when daddy announced that it was snowing and what I heard as I saw a little 5 year girl running towards me was joyful squealing. Rheagan was so excited as she threw on her shoes and coat. Thank goodness I bought the Gap "warmest jacket" that I thought we'd never use. We got all bundled up to go out and catch snow on our tongues. Of course I captured the moment for Rheagan and Reese. So you know I will soon be scrappin' the day it snowed in Houston and made the promise of Christmas come true for one little girl. I'd like to ask everyone that if this doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, what will?

Since I haven't told anyone about my blog I'll just ask myself right now. And I know the answer.

I started my own blog ... Now what?

I'm not sure why I started this blog, perhaps to have my place on the Internet? No, I could care less about that. Maybe to track all my favorite links and blogs? No, that's why we have "Favorites". Everyone else is doing it? No, I wouldn't jump off a bridge just 'cause everyone else is. To express myself? No, I don't need the WWW to do that but it seems like the most logical reason for now. I guess I will discover the reason once my blog evolves (or dies) over time.

For now, I think I will make this as a landing site to share my passion for my kids and hobbies with whoever is interested. I'm most passionate about scrapbooking the life of my children so I'm sure I'll share some ideas on that. I also love to scuba dive. I go on a big diving trip 1 - 2 times per year so I'll chronicle that. I want to learn how to make jewelry - we'll see how that turns out.

Oh and I guess I should share a bit about me. I am married to a wonderful man, who would literally do anything for me. I'm a working mommy of two beautiful girls. I also have a really great step-son. I live my life for my kids, although I have not forgotten about me. I still know how to have fun! My girls are 5 years and 6 weeks old right now. My oldest ADORES my youngest and I am sure the admiration will be returned when our youngest gets a bit older. I work as a marketing manager for the world's largest technology company, HP. I really love my job but that doesn't mean I want to work the rest of my life. That may change in the next 6 - 7 years but that's all I'm gonna say about that for now ;)

I'm not sure how often I'll update my blog, maybe daily, weekly, monthly and I'm still not sure what my blog will focus on. Let's just see what happens ...