Family self portrait

Here's one of my more recent layouts... and one of the few with all three of us in it. This is a self-portrait of us in DC on the mall... turned out pretty darn good for a self-portrait, if I do say so myself! :)

Later!

erin

It's all about the dress...

At Easter, it is definitely all about the dress... and the shoes! This dress was A~'s pick... I wanted the pink one with a little green, but she wanted the green with a little pink. Luckily she looks good in either color!

Notice the slightly shorter haircut? She wanted to get her's trimmed after I got my haircut last weekend... so off we went to Cartoon Cuts. When the lady asked how short to cut it, A~ put her hands up to her ears.... Yikes! So I said, how about chin length? So chin length it was... very Dora-esque! I took the time today to blow it dry with a little bit of flip out at the bottom... too cute, but it doesn't last for long. This is just prior to our Easter egg hunt. I had A~ running all over the house to see where the Easter Bunny hid her basket of candy while I raced around back to hide the eggs. She had fun, but I was out of breath! It's tough being the bunny solo! :)

Enjoy!

much love,

erin

It's all about the shoes...

At least it is when you're bowling! We went on our first family bowling outing last weekend and had a blast. Sergio had only been once before (and he still beat me both games... NOT fair!) and this was totally new for A~. At first she let Papi help her roll the ball up the lane granny-style. By the end of the first game, she was on her own... no helping this little girl! She was even trying to throw it a bit. Luckily she thought that the purpose of the game was to get your ball all the way down the lane. Each time it made it, she would holler "GOAL!" really, really loud and give us the thumbs up. It'll be fun until she figures out about those darn pins! ;-)

Not the best time for a cold...

The month of March has been a complete blur. I was up for my DT month with ScrapGoods and got my box of goodies at the end of February... but I didn't get to do a thing right away because I was Manager on Duty up at work for that weekend. I survived the weekend without any problems, with the exception of the start of a bad cold. I ended up being out sick part of the week... which is also the same week as our first DT meeting for my local Scrapbook store, Scrapbooks Plus, where we got our DT kits.

So, I needed to get at least 3 projects done for ScrapGoods by the 18th... AND... at least 4 projects done for Scrapbooks Plus by the 19th, all while trying not to ruin them during any given coughing spell. My usual method of laying everything out on several projects and fiddling for a bit before gluing everything down wasn't such a good idea. Everytime I'd start coughing, things would start flying! Yikes! Oh well... I'm starting to feel a bit better and took a couple of shots of some of my creations to show you what I worked on... here goes:

For ScrapGoods, this month's technique was Mitering Frames. It came with a cool tool, the name of which eludes me and some nice chipboard strips to make frames with. The tool is basically a ruler for measuring agles and you can set it where you want to mark perfect placement. I'm not so much a measuring kind of girl... so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I did have a fairly successful 8-sided frame... but the one corner that isn't perfect is hidden under the edge of the pic! :)

I also did this layout with large mitered corners... but used a craft knife to cut the angles in place instead of the ruler. It's a lot easier... and the corners are always perfect since you cut both edges at the same time. The background cardstock is an exact match for the outside of the Mimi's Cafe building. I thought the corners really echoed the window trim. I love the bold color combo and a few extras... it doesn't need a lot to make a statement!

Enough of mitering... so I used some of the chipboard borders to accent my linear layout of the ulta-popular "Windy Hill Homestead Tractor Ride", courtesy of my Shel-bel... and much to the delight of the little ones. It's not quite famous, but it should be. The screams as they ploughed through the tall grasses were definitely equal to an amusement park and it was much cheaper... and I think more fun. No line at all here! Aren't they cute?

Then on to Scrapbook Plus with beach themed paper from Reminisce. I didn't have a lot of beach photos and mom helped out in the search. I'm still working on the "rock collecting" layout that she found pictures for. I want it to be just right... so no rushing on that one!

First up is baby N~ with her toes in the water at about 9 weeks old. I love the look on Shan's face when the cold water hit them... Priceless! I added a lot of buttons and some felt pieces to give it a little-girly feel.

Here's a close-up:

Next up is S~ walking along the beach. I added some Heidi Swapp and Prima bling, K & Company paper and more buttons. It's simple, and really focuses on the beautiful beach and that cutie pie! I sewed so many buttons on these that my index finger was all messed up from poking through the paper. :)

OK, that's it for now. Hope you like everything. I'll post more this weekend to get everything back up to speed, ok? [I made a couple of cards too (both for SG and SP) as well as some altered items... but don't think I'll upload them here... this post is a long, catch up one!]

much love,

erin

I'm back!

After a couple of crazy, busy weeks... I'm back! The awards banquet last Sunday at work went off without a hitch (yeah!) and everyone seemed to have fun. The classes with shimelle and Donna Downey the night before were a lot of fun. I am SO excited that the "Year in Review" album I started in Donna's class is well on it's way to completion... I've gotten through September 2007... I just need a few more sheets of white cardstock and to finish up the jounaling. Here is a pic of me and Donna... she was riot... lots of fun and very entertaining!

Here is my latest layout... just finished today. The pic I posted a while ago... last October, after the Light the Night walk. It is one of my favorites that actually has me in it. :) I used the February Studio Calio kit... plus a bunch of stuff from my stash and from ScrapGoods too, of course. I've been holding onto it for a while not finding just the right papers to do it justice. Enjoy!

much love,

erin

Busy Sunday

It's the beginning of a busy Sunday. I've already been in to work once and may need to go again. So much to do and it's easier to go in on the weekend than to get up early during the week. The laundry is almost done. Half of the house is cleaned... of course, that means that half of it is dirty too. Still have groceries, Home Depot, the mall and the scrapbooking store to go. Whew!

Next weekend I am signed up for 2 classes at Scrapbowl 2008... and I need to get my homework done. Hopefully I can get it all taken care of today. For the one class I need 20 pics of myself... Yikes! A~ may get to take some more of me today! Luckily she'll think it's a treat. :)

I finished a layout last night and took a pic this morning. Hopefully I spelled Cabella's right... I wasn't 100% sure. Too late now! This is last summer checking out the cool animal exhibits in Kansas City. We were all there... Mom, Dad, Shan, all the cousins, me and Mamason. I didn't get many pics of the people... mostly just the animals. We had a great time!

I also took a couple of better shots of the weeping pussy willow plant. It's called the Enchanted Tree and has to live inside a year before you can put it outside.... so we are enjoying it. It sure is lovley and magicaly looking! Enjoy!

much love,

erin

Signs of Spring

It may be only February... but spring is definitely on the way! This weekend I saw three clear signs that spring is coming....

First, I bought a weeping pussy willow a couple of weeks ago. Saturday all the buds were popping out like crazy... just lovely!

When I took those pics, I noticed that my lavendar has flowers on it too! OK, so one tiny cluster of flowers... but if you look closely they ARE there! :)

The third sign... well, I heard this annoying noise and realized that it was a fly up against the window a buzz, buzz, buzzing. Yuck... but it's spring. No picture for this one... I'm sure that's ok!

Yesterday was record highs... 74 degrees... wow! By Sunday we will have a high in the 30's. Spring has a lot of ups and downs. Bummer!

Until then I'll have to gaze at the weeping pussy willow... and keep A~ from rubbing all the buds off! Today the buds have gotten really fat and fuzzy... I guess the flower is in full bloom here. It's hard to see in the picture. Hopefully I can try to get a better shot this weekend with some natural light. Pretty cool!

much love,

erin