Friday, April 30, 2010

BIG News!!

I am so excited to announce that I have been chosen
to be a member on the MOMENTA design team!
Their new site is launching tomorrow, National
Scrapbook Day, and make sure that you stop by
to check it out! Momenta has a huge variety of
fabulous products that can be found at retailers
such as Michaels, Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, and
Archivers! I'm so happy to be a part of this team!!
Also, to celebrate the launch of their new site,
Momenta is giving away gift certificates daily
through NSD if you check out their Facebook
page here.

And, as if that wasn't enough of a thrill to last
me all year, I was also chosen as HELMAR'S
guest designer for October 2010! All of this
excitement may hold me over for a lifetime!


Have a fabulous Friday and make sure you
do something crafty for NSD tomorrow!!
-Sarah

Thursday, April 29, 2010

High Jump!!

Becca is trying out track this year. Every other
year she has always been busy with other sports
like swimming and softball, so this year she decided
to make a change and try out for her school play
and also track. Well, she had been amazing! Becca
runs the 400 and also the 4 by 4 relay and I believe
that she's always brought in either a first or second
place for her team...not bad for her first year out.
Also, since she is a 5'9" 13 year old, her coach
thought that she might do well high jumping and
she was right. Becca tried it out at practice one
day last week and has jumped in two meet since,
bringing in a third place ribbon in the both meets
one of them even being the county track meet!
Like I said, she's AMAZING!!
Here are a couple of photos that I took of her
at last night's meet...



...how does she do that?!!
Her highest jump so far...4'6"

Have a fabulous Thursday,
-Sarah

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Cogsworth Is Complete!!!

I finally finished the Cogsworth costume for my daughter's
middle school play, this year is Beauty and the Beast.
My daughter, however, is not Cogsworth. She is a
teacup in the enchanted castle that will be singing and
dancing to the song 'Be Our Guest' and she's having a blast.
I'm so excited about the way this costume turned out
(although it did take me longer than I initially thought
mostly due to Carter not ever wanting me to leave
his side). I had the best experience creating
my version of Cogsworth, and I have now been
volunteering almost every night during play rehearsal
to design and paint Belle's cottage and the Beast's library
....it's all been an absolute joy to work with the other kids
and see their creativity, exhausting but fun!!
I have three photos to share of the different stages
that the costume was built before I finally finished
...sorry for the poor photos but I took one or two of
them with my cell in the middle of the night down
in our basement while I was working on the
costume but I think you'll get the idea.






I almost forgot...I made this costume out of 3/16" foam board
and then simply covered it with fabric and gold trim.
The center is made from foam board and scrappy supplies.
I will also post picks in about two weeks once I've had a
chance to order the photos (not allowed to take our own)
and you'll be able to see the costume on, complete
with pants, shirt, hat, and shoes.....very cute!!

Have a fabulous Sunday evening,
-Sarah

Monday, April 19, 2010

Aaaaahhhhh, Spring!

I just wanted to quickly share some photos that I took a few days
ago of the flowering trees in my yard...they are absolutely in their
prime this week. Also, I took a few shots of the lilac bushes that
are technically in my neighbors yard but are so close that I can
smell that glorious smell
(my favorite flower & smell in the whole world)
through my window when the breeze blows. There's just
nothing else like it, I absolutely LOVE this time of year!!...and my
allergies don't kick in until fall.


















Have a fabulous week,
-Sarah

Saturday, April 17, 2010

And The WINNER Is....

Congrats Jamie!!!
with your address so that I can send out
your two new Moxxie lines!

Have a great weekend,
-Sarah


Monday, April 12, 2010

100th POST CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY!!!

Alright, I've been leading you up to this for long enough
and it's finally here...my 100th post and the GIVEAWAY
that I've been promising you.

So, I've been celebrating lots in my life lately like my
daughter's 10th birthday, school and sports accomplishments
for the girls, everyday accomplishments for Carter as he
grows so quickly, and a million other simple things that make
life so wonderful. So what I'd like you all to do for a chance
to win the FULL line of CHILLIN' OUT from MOXXIE
and also the FULL EASTER line from MOXXIE is simply
tell me what you have been celebrating lately. I will leave
this post up and you have until Friday, April 16th at
12 midnight EST to leave a comment for your chance to win.



Have a great Monday,
-Sarah

Friday, April 9, 2010

TGIF

Wooohoooooo, Happy Friday everyone! We made it!!
Although my weekend is going to be a busy one, I get to
sleep in until 7am instead of having to wake up at 6am to
get the girls off to school, and tomorrow we get to have a
party and cookout for my sweet Emmy's 10th birthday...
we're all very excited about that!

I also have a layout that I'd like to share before I go on
blogging hiatus for the weekend. I created this layout with
some photos that I snapped of Carter staring out of our
living room window just longing to be able to get outside
and play. The past week (weather wise) has been so nasty
with cold temperatures, wind, and rain. We were really
spoiled from the 70 and 80 degree temperatures from the
week before and poor little Carter doesn't understand why
one day he can play outside and the next we have to stay
cooped up in the house. Thank goodness it's supposed to
be about 70 this weekend for Emmy's party!
This layout has a couple of techniques that I'd like to share.
First of all, I made the coiled flower embellie at the bottom
right of the layout (I included a close-up photo) by cutting
a circle out of a piece of cardstock and then cutting a swirl
through it like how the apple peel looks when you peel an
apple. Then I rolled it up into the flower, tighter like a flower
bud on the inside and then loosening as I rolled towards the
outside of the flower, and then inked the edges a rasberry
color. The title PLAY is also hand drawn and hand cut just
by writing the word PLAY with my teal marker on a piece
of white cardstock, outlining it with a black thin tipped marker,
and then cutting it out. I like to include my own handwriting on
a layout even when I use computer journaling and this is a
perfect way to accomplish that.





I hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend and don't forget
to stop back on Monday for my 100th post celebration GIVEAWAY!!

-Sarah

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Birthday Treats for School & A Layout

Happy Thursday!
Ok, so I said before how my daughter's birthday fell on Easter
this year and that we are actually having her party this coming
Saturday because of all the holiday things happening last weekend.
Anyway, on Monday of this week I baked a couple of cakes
(strawberry chip...very yummy!!!) and took them to Emily's
school so that she could celebrate her 10th birthday with her
classmates and of course it made every single child in that 4th
grade classroom quite happy...sorry parents and teachers for the
sugar rush but at least they had recess immediately following so
that all the kids could run off some of that excess energy.

So, my entire point to all of this is that I created a layout last
night using the photos that I took of Emily and her classmates
while they were all enjoying their cake and lemonade. It's very
hard to take fabulous photos in that horrible lighting in school
classrooms, even with the best of cameras and I was using my
cell, so to make that not so obvious I printed the photos in
3.5x5 and cropped them a bit to fit together on the layout.
I also made my own dye to spritz on the page using an old
body spray bottle and just my color choice of acrylic paint
watered down a bit...it's a very cost effective way to have
any color spray that you'd like whenever you'd like without
breaking the bank!! Also, the giant butterfly is a stamp that
I used with a rasberry colored ink. I'm quite happy with the
way this page turned out and I hope that my Emmy had a
great time sharing birthday treats with her friends at school.


Thanks for looking and this makes post #98. Don't forget to
check back for the GIVEAWAY celebrating my
100th post coming soon!!!

-Sarah

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

A Few More Layouts for Moxxie

Happy Wednesday!
I just wanted to quickly share a couple of layouts that
I made using the Halloween line from Moxxie called
"Eye of Newt". It's a totally fun line complete with
double sided patterned paper, rub ons, and even a
12x12 sheet of cardstock stickers. I'd like to point out
an odd element that I added on the 'My Little Heroes'
layout, the butterfly which usually wouldn't belong on
a Halloween layout but I think it totally works here
because of the stamping that I did on the wings which
adds that elegant creepy gothic feel to match the
gorgeous velvet die cut border along the left-hand side
of the page. I had lots of fun creating these layouts,
and yes, there is another banner which I just can't stay
away from now, and I hope that you all enjoy them too!



This is post #97 so stay tuned for #100 for the ever
anticipated giant GIVEAWAY!!!

-Sarah

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter & B-Day Pics

Hello all!!!

I finally got my Easter photos loaded and as I said before
Emmy's birthday photos as well (her 10th b-day fell on
Easter this year). So, we had tons of fun on Easter, especially
with Carter because he is 19 months old now and although
he didn't really understand what was happening, he definitely
understands TOYS which is what we filled his little Easter
basket with (which was really a CARS bucket that he loves
and plays with daily along with the set of various sports
balls that are thankfully soft because he throws them around
the living room about every 20 min.). Emily had double the
goodies since she turned double digits and in addition to the
nightstand with cubbies that I found for her room and a
super cute scrapbooking kit, she was floored when she opened
up her brand new iPOD touch with matching pink cover!!!
I know, I know...it's a bit much, but Emily is a very responsible
child and she's the best (never talks back, does all of her chores,
helps out with her little brother, and does all of this with a smile
and never complains!!) so we figured why not spoil her some,
she deserves it and that smile and so far 510, 874 thank you's
made it all worth it!!!

Here are a few photos from this weekends events...enjoy!








This is post #96 so don't forget to check back for post #100
for GIVEAWAY time to celebrate my 100th post!!
Have a great day,
-Sarah

Monday, April 5, 2010

Coming Soon!!!!

Just a quickie post to let you all know that my little
girls 10th b-day was Sunday, yes her birthday was on
Easter Sunday this year so I've been busy with holiday
prep and clean-up and birthday things as well. I'll be
posting pics of it all tomorrow (just need to get them
loaded and edited) and I've also been hard at work on
Cogsworth's costume which should be completed by
the end of this week which I will also post pics.
Remember, BIG GIVEAWAY time is coming soon!!!
This is post #95 and #100 is the magic number!
Have a great day,
-Sarah

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Sketch Challenge

I just wanted to post my layout and take on the sketch challenge
that was posted over on the Imaginisce blog. As soon as I saw
those three circles off to the left of the photos, I knew exactly
what I was going to do...they just screamed trees at me and what
better photos to accompany trees than fresh Spring photos.
(good thing I had just happened to take some days earlier!)



Hope you like it and this makes post #94 so keep checking
back for the big GIVEAWAY on my 100th post!!!

Happy Saturday,
-Sarah

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Countdown to 100th Post GIVEAWAY!!!

Ok, this is post #93 so only 7 more until my 100th post and
a giant GIVEAWAY to one lucker reader!!!

I wanted to share some adorable pics of my kids playing
outside yesterday. It really was such a beautiful day, and
I think that if it's at all possible today may be even nicer.
My oldest daughter is missing from the photos because
she is off spending time with her grandparents during her
spring break week who just happen to have a neighbor
with a two week old baby girl.....horse that is. I'm sure
Becca is probably spending more time with that baby
than her grandparents!!! If you'd like, you can see pics
a couple of posts down. However, Emmy and Carter had
a blast outside, and Carter even tuckered himself all out
kicking a ball around the backyard in all that fresh air and
went to bed a half hour early last night....we may have to
have some heavy duty outside playtime everyday to give
Mom a little extra time at night to myself!






Have a beautiful day everybody!!
-Sarah