Gettin' clean

So, my latest creation? Hooded towels. These are SO great! Nolan absolutely LOVES them for his bath! He has a yellow one and a light blue one. When I first made these, I asked Lauren & Mira if they wanted some and they both thought they were "too big" to have hooded towels. Now, of course, they want their own. Honestly, I don't blame them one bit. I'd like to have one (or TEN) for myself. Actually they're made from full size bath towels so, they'd be fine for anyone. These were made for a friend of my sister-in-law.

I will be posting these on ETSY.com. They're available in brown, white, yellow, blue & pink. If anyone wants an alternate color, please email and I will try to get it. The embroidery is available in over 100 colors, so they sky is almost the limit.

In scrapbooking life, I am currently working on a mini album for Nolan called "A Day in the Life" where I try to capture each part of his average day (is there such a thing? LOL). From what time he wakes up, what comprises our mornings, nap time, afternoon play & bedtime rituals. It will be fun to look back later and recall what we did all day! Hope to complete it over the weekend so I will post pictures as soon as I'm done. Enjoy the beautiful summer weather and weekend festivities!

New Jammies

Doesn't everyone like new pj's? I bought several cute fabrics and decided to make some for Nolan. Race cars, fire trucks and pirates :) The shirt has a cut out from the fabric sewn on so they coordinate. He loved them and looks SO cozy! They're still a little big but as fast as he is growing these days, I'm not worried.

Bebe au Lait and summer's bounty

Have you ever procrastinated a task because it seemed SO daunting? And then once you got up the gumption to dive in you ask yourself "Why did I wait so long to do that, it wasn't near as bad as I'd thought it would be?" Maybe you even enjoyed it? That's exactly what happened to me with this:

Travis' cousin is having baby #4 and by now all the basics from previous babies are well worn out. Instead of buying these nursing covers (aka Bebe au Lait or Hooter Hiders), I knew I could make them with even cuter fabrics and include matching burp cloths. Now that I've made the tote bag I could even do a diaper bag! Oh, the snow ball gets bigger!!! This turned out WAY better than I had anticipated and now I can't wait to make more. Who's havin' a baby?!? And, of course, these are available on the Etsy Shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5877154 . It's about 24" x 36" and has boning sewn in around the neck so Mama can see the baby but no one else can. Now I'm working on a new logo to include fabric crafts in "Scrap Happy" so watch for the change soon. And if anyone wants an awesome baby gift, you know where to find me!! I've already started my next project and it's so fun! So stay tuned :)

Today was our day to bring fresh fruit to snack on for all the girls at Lauren's gym. Each day a different person will bring fruit & / or veggies. The girls work out from 8:00am until 2:00pm everyday and only take a 15 minute break aroud noon to snack, no lunch break. So, this morning at 6:00am I began to get everything together. My kitchen smelled SOOOOO good with all the fresh goodies! It really reminded me how I look forward to summer and the special things summer brings. With the kids home from school, it's easy to get caught up in the busy everyday stuff. But there's so much to enjoy too! Hope you all are enjoying summer's bounty as well!

I {heart} ETSY.com

Check it out....more to come!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5877154

I'm Coming Out...

To Quote Diana Ross "I'm coming out, I want the world to know..." Remember that song? Ok, maybe I'm dating myself now, but it's a classic! Now how does this relate to me? I'm coming out of my single minded craft and branching out. I've always had a desire to create trendy and fabulous things (outside of scrapbooking) but never had the nerve to try.

Anyway, a few days back I showed a little "sneaky peaky." While it was just as delicious as a new line of scrapbook paper, it was .....{FABRIC}! My new obsession. Lauren is very much interested in fashion design and has been taking sewing classes the last 2 years in Jr. High. So, we got a sewing machine last weekend. The fabric I previewed is actually for another project that I can't mention yet (since it's a gift) BUT here's what I did Saturday:


I found a WONDERFUL fabric shop in the south end of the valley . It's called Material Girls, off Redwood Road and 106th South. It is awesome. This wasn't my first choice of fabric but Nolan wasn't cooperating in the store (but he DID do a good job sweeping with their broom.....thank goodness they're patient & kind in there too!:) and I knew this would turn out cute. It's Michael Miller fabric. The selection of Amy Butler fabrics is true eye candy! So, I created a tote bag complete with diaper case. The diaper case was a whim....this was all I had left and were there more I would've made a flap closure or a tie closure with a fancy ribbon. This was the best I could do but I think it turned out great for the first go 'round. And I only had to rip seams twice :)

Can't wait to put some fun things up on the Etsy shop! So keep an eye out. When I do, I'll post a link. Hope everyone had a great Father's Day! Here's to a great week ahead!

Happy Father's Day!

The girls & I had so much fun spending time together making goodies for the dads and grandpas in our life. Dad's truly have so much influence in their children's lives. Sometimes I think it's underestimated how they shape us and our kids. Thank you to my dad and to Travis for being there when your needed and giving it your all everyday!


Here are some of the altered projects we did!



This is a photo cube by Making Memories that we made for my dad. He likes bright colors and silly kids!



This is a Quaker Oatmeal container that the girls did for Grandpa Les. They're certain he needed it to store all his pens, pencils and other important things! The tag says "A grandpa has silver in his hair and GOLD in his heart!"

May you all have a wonderful day celebrating our wonderful Fathers!

Completed Coupon Organizer

As previously mentioned, I have made a coupon organizer for my Mom. Here is the final outcome:

Love it? Want to make your own? Feel free to email if you have any questions on how to do it. With gas over $4 per gallon and milk about the same, couldn't hurt to be a little more conscious of our spending habits, right? Plus it gives us another scrapooking project! This one was made with paper from My Mind's Eye, another fav!

Easy Idea

My Mom & I were talking about all these CFO's (Chief Family Officers) who were making a quest out of living frugally. They take clipping coupons to the next level. They keep their blog and give an account of what they spend. It's astounding how many of them are cutting their grocery budgets down next to nothing! In fact I read one woman's blog where her grocery budget, with 3 girls, was $800 for the YEAR. I know some people who spend that per MONTH! So, while you'd think she'd be half way through her funds by now, she actually has MORE than she started with by using coupons with in-store specials and getting many things free. It's unbelievable. Here's a link to one that shows you how to do it: www.moneysavingmom.com

So, the question was with clipping (or printing your own) coupons, how do you keep them organized? Here's my version of just that. It's complete except for labeling each pocket. With this black cardstock I used, I was considering using a white chalk pen at the top of each library pocket. The categories would be, for example, dairy, bread & bakery, breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, personal hygiene, pet, baby, even specific stores or restaurants you would regularly go to. This is an EASY, EASY project. Took me less than an hour to have most of it together and I used the leftovers from my September "Circle of Friends" acrylic album sample for the class at Heartfelt Creations! :) (Paper by American Crafts) After punching the holes I used binder rings to hold them together.


My Mom liked the idea and I am making her one. I will post the photos when it's finished. As always, would love to hear your comments/feedback! Have a great weekend. Looks like the weather here in Utah is FINALLY cooperating and we are expecting fantastic sunny days for the foreseeable future! Enjoy!

Jackson Hole "Babymoon"

This poor project has been on my book shelf, incomplete, since Nolan was born nearly 18 MONTHS AGO! So, a couple of weekends ago, after a Sugar Free ROCKSTAR (until 2am) I cleaned and completely organized my scrap studio. Infact, I will have to post new photos, as I am very pleased with the result. Anyway, I decided it was hightime to finish this. That's ONE of the things I'm trying to implement into everyday life....DO IT NOW. Get it done and move on!

So, the album (8" x 8") went really quick with great help from these COSMO CRICKET papers and die cuts! They're awesome and make it easy to complete a project like this. I love, love, love everything from Cosmo Cricket! Check it out for yourself at http://www.cosmocricket.com/. Their new line HELLO SUNSHINE is perfect for your summer projects!!! Pair it up with one of the Blackboard albums...oh, how cute!! And their blog is awesome too: http://www.cosmocricket.blogspot.com/

More updates to come.

M.I.A. and a sneaky peeky

Have I been "missing in action?" Only here, every other part of life, definitely not. I've been in a little bit of a "funk" lately, in large part due to my lost camera. But I've now fixed that!! Life is getting back on track. I've rounded the corner and have SO much to share. Lots of good things happening, the first is THIS:

YAY!! Meet the Sony Cybershot DSC-T300, my new best friend. I toiled over whether to get another point & shoot or an SLR, but with my lifestyle this works much better. And thus far I've been very impressed with the features and options. The back is a 3.5" touchscreen display. You can edit onscreen before you ever download the photos to your computer and even review your shots in a slideshow with music! The best features I've discovered are the Smile Shutter and the Child vs. Adult Priority settings. The Smile Shutter recognizes facial movement, as when someone laughs or smiles and it takes the shot (instead of waiting for my easily distracted, slow hand to press the shutter). The Priority settings use scene recognition to focus more on children's (or adult) faces in the scene.

So, were back in business in the camera department! And I have much to catch up on. I have completed all three (3!) acrylic albums for my classes at Heartfelt Creations and will post them here very soon. I have opened a little shop on ETSY and have sold everything that I've put up! I will be making more goodies to post onto the ETSY.com store and will preview it here first, so keep your eyes open for that along with a link.

Lastly, I have a little "sneaky peeky" at my (and Lauren's) new venture!

Any ideas? This calls for a give away!!! If you think you know, post a comment and the first one to get it right will get some goodies to enjoy.

It's GOOD to be BACK!