Hello 2011!

Can't believe how quickly 2010 went by, it was a wonderful year and I hope 2011 is filled with just as much happiness and joy to one and all!

We just hung around at home all day. My kids drove me crazy...they played Just Dance on the wii and Kenzie and Micah fought all day when one of them didn't get the first prize ribbon for dancing. Then they whined when one got mad at the other and wouldn't play nicely. Then Paxton would go running off with their toys and the older ones would come crying to me. All day long...it was MOM!!!

My husband actually went to Lowe's hardware to buy wood and spent the day framing up our unfinished utility room which will become my new scraproom! I'm sure it will drag on for months but at least he's started it. We've actually had plans to do this almost a year ago but it's always been put on the back burner.

And now for the scrap-room's January kit reveal.

1) Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934
The photos were taken last year when all the kids were sitting at the doctor's office waiting to get their flu shots.

2) Fancy Pants Happy Together

Makenzie's first concert was Salena Gomez. We stood in line for a poster booklet and she came home and tore it all apart and taped it up all around her room.
We watched Andale High's football game at my 15 yr reunion. They were throwing out t-shirts into the stands after the first touchdown and Lam snagged one for Micah even though it was a size XL.



3) Jillibean Soup Atomic Soup



4) Bella Boulevard Lovey Dovey - coming soon...in my recipe card :)
Such a cute cute line!

And a couple cards. Oopsie, I can't believe I missed the "h" on this one. I ran out of this letter sticker and was going to go back with a black ink pen to make the l into an h and totally forgot until it was revealed today.

Ten days and counting!

Is everyone ready for christmas? I'm not! I have so much to do and so little time to finish it all. Being sick and having sick ones doesn't help out at all. The kids are finally better but I"m still holding onto this nasty cold I"ve had for days. We haven't even made our yearly trip to sit on Santa's lap yet...I"m hoping we can get that done this weekend.

Today Makenzie told me that she watched Hellen Keller at school and it was sooo sad. She told me she only dropped one tear though. My girl is so thoughtful sometimes. She see's a lot of homeless people lately as we drive around town and tell me she wants to give them some of her toys and candy that she doesn't like.

On christmas eve, she will be singing in the choir with her class. The girls will dress up like Mary and the boys as Joseph and they will bring their scrolls to the manger. She is super excited and have been talking it up for days.

People have asked what Micah wants for xmas and here's his Santa list. He wants mighty beans, baulkagons, criss cross crasher, Muno (Uno) cards, building thing...and that's it, he says.

Paxton hasn't added many new words to his vocab yet. He does seem to understand a lot better and can respond his famous...Nah or bob of his head though. He's been getting a ton of teeth in lately...I think 5 new ones already. He loves to ride piggyback on his sister, they do that everynight.

It's fun to watch the kids play with old toys (Micah's Thomas train sets) and reading old books (peek-a-boo ones).

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I've opened up an early xmas gift...my Mark 5D!! Super excited so I'll have lots of photos to share if I can ever get caught up.

Christmas Kit

If you are in search of a scrapbooking kit chalked full of the latest and greatest papers and cute embellishments, then you have to go get yourself a TSR kit. I always love working with my December kits, it gets me in the Christmas mood. The design team did a fabulous job, you must check out all the inspiration in the idea gallery.

This month, we have Basic Grey - Jovial

I just love the matching chipboard snowman, and check out the electic chipboard alphabet from the embellishment add-on kit was a great combo. They can be easily painted to match your page too, here I painted the "day" in black.

With this layout, I used my EK Success swiss dots punch. I've had it for awhile and didn't like it much but thought it worked great on this page.

Jillibean Soup - Christmas Soup

Calling all kraft lovers, this kit is for you! I used my new extra large scalloped punch for the bottom border...loving it!

Crate Paper - Snow Day

For the Maya Road calendar pieces I created a hanging calendar with the crate line. It is four 6x6 sheets of chipboard just tied together with some spare ribbon.

And finally, we have the TOWER of MILK DUDS! The stamp kit was created to easily wrap around a Hershey's nugget bar but I didn't have any on hand so digging through my kid's leftover Halloween stash still hidden in the pantry, I came up with this idea. Love the polka dots!

I have lots of extra little projects to share but my household has caught the bug ever since Thanksgiving day and I"m still trying to recover myself. Be back in a few.

Field Trip

My TSR Recipe card using BoBunny Olivia. I took a half day off work to attend Kenzie's Kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch. There were a few students who's parents couldn't come so they were split up between groups. Kenzie's friend Haley came with us and they had a wonderful time together. At the end of the day my daughter told me she was so happy I could be there. That just made my day.



Included in the kits are Jillibean canvas flowers and leaf stick pins...very fun.

Spooky Cute

Arial, Star Wars guy, my little Pea Pod, and cousin Ninja had a wonderful Halloween. Hope you did too!

TSR Nov Kit Reveal

Nov Sneak peek

October Afternoon Campfire - These papers have a fall pallete but it was a good match for my pile of Kenzie's soccer pictures from last year that needed to be scrapped.

This weekend Kenzie found Lam's old volleyball trophy in the tub of toys and she asked if it was hers. I told a white lie and said yes and she was all happy and went to get a napkin to wipe it down and polish it. The she started asking questions like how did she win it? What sport was she playing? How come it looks like Volleyball. Then I felt bad and came out with the truth and told her it was her daddys. She was so sad and had a big frown.

Then she asked me how can she win one? And I told her she had to play a sport and her team needs to win the game. So then she told me she wanted to play soccer again...and gymnastics...and volleyball....

We took her out of karate and gymnastics when school started because with her homework load, and the adjustment of going to school all day everyday, it was too much for her to handle. But now that she's got the routine down, I think we might try one sport.

We went to our cousin, Astrid's birthday party this weekend. All the kids were playing the new "Just Dance" game on the wii. It looked very fun and I think Santa will have to put that on his list for the Amphone residence.

Halloween Boo Book

I've been wanting to make one of these collective mini albums for each of the kids to showcase all their costumes and finally did it. Here's my project for TSR's crop this weekend.



The bat and title was inspired by this card created by Sarah Hodgkinson.






And i'm still finishing up on the book for Micah but here's the cover page so far

Fashion Fab

I've been busy working away on some projects this week. Tune back in on Friday to see the results of what I creating for the scrap-room's first Mod Squad/Design Team Crop. Be sure to head on over to the message board and play along with all the challenges going on, it's bound to be a great time to get your creative juices flowing! It's going on all weekend long and my project, a Halloween mini album, is slotted for Friday night at 11pm central time.



I still have a pile of layouts I worked on a few weeks ago just laying on the floor in my scrap studio that still needs photos added. My printer at home is failing me...the quality is not the same so I had to do a large upload to Sam's club yesterday.



And speaking of photos, I got the opportunity to tag along on a professional photoshoot with Teresa Reed last weekend. She was taking pictures of 3 little kids and initially they were not in the mood to get their pictures taken at all! and I can sooooo relate. It was fun to watch her work her magic, she was so generous with her time in helping me learn how she meters for light. I brought along my camera and she showed me what settings she used, we had the same lens but my photos did not turn out anywhere near as good. I have no intentions of becoming a full time photographer, it's a whole lot tougher than it looks. But I would love to learn all the tricks of the trade to improve my own photos.


We have our own family photos scheduled for this Saturday with Jacque Inc. They were running a groupon special so I couldn't pass up on the $20 deal, no sitting fee and 3-4x6 prints. We're going downtown and I'm very excited about it. I've been debating on what to dress the kids in for quite some time. Isn't it everytime you're looking for a specific outfit, you can never find it but then when you're not in the shopping mode you see all these cute things at the store?




GAP had a 45% sale a week ago so I purchased a few things for the kids. I loved their Bleecker collection and got the boys some basic black/grey shirts. Micah wanted this one when I showed him the site but I wasn't so keen in him wearing a skull sweater for our family photo.





And I got this dress for myself...thinking it'll be great for xmas, and at 45% off...even better!



And speaking of fashion, I love the outfits Lisa is wearing, the 4th photo looks just my style. I love the Anthropologie boots in the 2nd one, but I can't spend that much for a pair.

And here Kelley does a comparison on clothing, love her Skimp or Splurge choices. Really like this shirt dress from Forever 21 paired with those shoes and accessories. I just don't have the sexy legs to pull it off though.





Thanks for stopping by!

Tooth Fairy & Pixie Dust

This morning I took both Kenzie and Micah to the dentist. We just made a switch to a new one because I didn't like the way our previous dentist handled the billings and it seemed they wanted us to come back every 3 months for unnecessary work. When I called to make the appt, I mentioned that I just noticed last week that two of Makenzie's permenant teeth have already come in thru her gums. And since her baby teeth haven't fallen out yet, they are pushing in towards her mouth and she's been complaining of aches. Her teeth are just a little bit loose but not enough to go stringing them to a doorknob and trying the ole' yank em out business.

Anyways..back to my telephone call...the receptionist said I could come in to have the doc look at her but they couldn't gaurantee the extraction could be done the same day since we are new patients and have to fill out all that paperwork.

Well, the doctor recommended these baby teeth go bye bye and here is one Happy Little Girl!!! She's been waiting for the tooth fairy for over a year now. ( She dresses herself and does her own hair in the morning each day for school...i think mommy needs to help her)


Micah was in there for a 2nd opinon on his front teeth. Unfortuneately, we'll be bringing him back for some additional work. On the ride back to school Micah asked her, "Sister...can you please tell the tooth fairy to leave one present for you and one for me too?!?" And she says...Micah, you have to wait til yours fall out, i've been waiting for this day for a long time.

And this evening she was dancing all around and asking me if I thought the tooth fairy would remember to come tonight. She had her teeth sealed in a little tiny chest the dentist gave her but she kept opening it up and looking at it. Once again her little brother tried..., Sister he says....can you put one under my pillow too so the tooth fairy will come see me?

LOL...i love when little kids still BELIEVE.

But the tooth fairy was not prepared to make her rounds so soon and had to stay up late to leave this on the dresser drawer for the special girl. Inside the star box was a $5 bill wrapped in blue tulle and a fairy dress ornament. Kenzie woke up at 6:30am and immediately looked under her pillow!

The tooth fairy also left this note for her. There was a trail of glitter (Fairy Pixie Dust) from her bedroom window leading to the dresser too...she was super excited and woke me up early to read her note for her.

City Park

My recipe page this month is using American Crafts City Park line. A great mix of colors for any everyday layout. The circles were cut out from the sheet of Courtland Gardens. You can't see it very well here but the centers are filled with glitter. If you have the old coluzzle tool, they are the perfect size to cut all these circles. Photos were taken on Mother's day this year.