My pretty pies!

Hungry??? too bad, we finished them already! But I did want to show them off some because I am proud of these beauties!

For the apple pie, I thought I'd add some sweet Shawna Schwoopies, and on the pumpkin you can see I put a few little hearts.

Yay for my pretty Thanksgiving pies!

It's Begining to Look a Lot like Christmas!

YAY!!! this year we put lights on our house for the first time! I'm so proud of us, and SO excited that the season has come!

The best part, 5 out of the 9 houses in our culdesac already have lights! What a little wonder land for us!!!

The BIG Project

This weekend we finally finished a the big project we've been trying to finish since we moved in April. The playroom needed some shelves, so we planned and drew out shelves that were made up of 8 interlocking boards (and a case) that formed 25 cubes (sorry that is about as well as I can describe it). We've had them cut for a while, but today we finally finished painting them and assembled the whole huge set in the play room...

Here are the boys playing in the shelves that we were screwing together on the floor:
Here is G, securing these monsters to the wall...Look at this towering toy home!

And now, a play paradise! A place for everything, all at home in their shelves made especially by Mommy and Daddy...

Freebie!!!

Okay Everyone Here is your freebie!
It includes samples of the Schwoopie and Wispy Stamp sets and some exclusive Chistmas word art too :). Everything is HAND DRAWN by me :) I hope you enjoy!

Thank you SO much to Design By Dani for hosting this for me!

They're coming!

Well tomorrow is the big schwoopie day! :)

Click to see the final Schwoopies and Wisps coming tomorrow to Design By Dani. AND tomorrow there are BIG sales going on at the store, so you can get them and everything else at a great price!

Soon I will also be releasing my Freebie here on my blog with some exclusive word art, but you can get all the wisps and shwoops Friday at Design by Dani. Also If you register at the store you can sign up for the newsletter, where the wisp and schwoop Freebie will given away.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well what is more fitting for Thanksgiving than this, the perfect illustration of my blessings all over me.

I had to put this together tonight for Thanksgiving and just to soak in all my blessings for a while.

Tonight I say - Thank you for:

• My husband, he is clearly handpicked by God for me. I am happy, well taken care of, I am cared for and loved and I know that is truly a gift. I spend every night with the person I love most in the universe, and wake up every morning to him right there. I am blessed.
  
• Oh my dear boys... look at those guys. They make my life so rich, and they are my world. They keep me busy, they make me crazy.... I love them so much they make me cry I wouldn't have it any other way.
• My mom and Dad. I was just thinking about her so much today. I am so fortunate to have two parents that clearly love me dearly, that shower my kids with love, that respect me and G as parents. I've been thinking about my mom... I mean wow - if things had gone just slightly different 2 years ago when she was in her accident, well.... I don't know that I even have the words, only to say: my mom makes my life better. I am thankful for her. Thankful for her courage, her persistence, her friendship and her love.
  
• I am surrounded this year by family, by friendship, by support. I am SO grateful God is showering me with so much love. I am so grateful for all the growing friendships in my life.

Look at me. I am so well taken care of. My heart is full tonight. For that I am very Grateful.

Feeling Special

On our Towel Trip, I saw this gorgeous towel, that is simply perfect for my red and black, coffee themed kitchen, I almost picked it up to buy it, but when I saw that for the price of just that one I could get a whole set with three potholders and two dishtowels - I just couldn't justify it in my mind. I pet this sweet pretty towel a few times and put it back.

Well my sweet friend Casey just couldn't let me do it. She actually went to Walmart and got me the pretty towel that I didn't let myself get. Yesterday at MOMS Club she gave it to me as a gift and a little card, that said "Because you deserve it".

I feel so special :) and you should see how special my kitchen feels with it hanging in there.

Thank you Casey - I really do feel special.

New Camera!

With the holdiays coming up here, I told G that he needed to let me have my Chrismas present early! There are just too many good pictures to be taken to waste them on a bad camera.

YAY G! I'm SO HAPPY! :)
It is a Cannon Power Shot A80... it's been well loved, and well taken care of by it's previous owner, and because it is used we were actually able to afford the sort of camera that I wanted!

It is sad, but my old Kodac EasyShare makes this seem like the most advanced camera on the planet! I am really thrilled though because there are lots of settings and options which means I can start to learn a little bit more about exposure and lighting, and (halleluja!) i get to zoom now!

Here are my first few shots with my new baby:
Merry Christmas to me!!!

Coming Soon!!!

UPDATED: Well the big news :)

We are going to release these on friday at design by dani with some other great things (think, big calandar kit, seasonal kits: massive amounts of really cool stuff in these kits people!!!)
I'll also be offering this freebie, with word art and mini schwoopies. Check back here, and also in the Design By Dani newsletter to get your freebie! :)

Look at me!!!

Well I'm learning new fun things in PhotoShopElements. I've been playing around with my doodles and Schwoopies, and turning them into brushes and stamps....

So now, I'm Proud to present, TA-DA!:

I know it isn't the most amazing thing you've ever seen, but for me it is a big step! Maybe in a few more tries I'll have something share-worthy :).

What is Beauty?

I worked on a big project Friday, and in the meantime made a WRECK of my desk. So today was clean up the desk day.

Every time I clean my desk, I get all warm inside because I just LOVE my scrap supplies so much. I love the paper, the brushes, the colorful paint. I love the stamps and the tags and the brads, the glue and the glue runner and the glue dots. I love the paper cutter the folder and the embellishments galore.

It just made me start to thing about beauty, and what beauty is. Growing up, I always LOVED a fresh pack of crayons, I watch Gareth get all excited about that untouched form of playdough that comes out of the container. When I was in highschool a brand new pack of lined paper seriously made me SO happy.

I love that raw potential for beauty. Just how am I going to combine it all? Where can I brush that plum paint, or stamp that letter "t".

So in celebration of my truly beautiful scrap supplies I got all artsy and took some pictures. Can you feel the beauty?

So, What is beauty to you?

Don't Throw pretzels As a Boomerang

Gareth:
"Mom, Owen's using pretzels as a boomerang"

Me:
"Owen, Don't use pretzels as a boomerang"

All the boys:
Hysterical Laughing

Welcome to my life.

Towel Trip

Well, I'm so excited! I've officially add 5 red towels, and 3 red pot holders to my kitchen...
Now everyone, remind me to THROW AWAY my five most disgusting kitchen towels from my drawer, goodness knows it will be VERY easy to find 5 yucky dish towels.

Last night was such a fun night, two of my MOMS Club friends took me with them to Walmart, to buy myself some dish towels.

I don't think Casey believed me when I said I hadn't bought myself any for so long because I just can't stay focused once I got into the store. Well, she has proof now, after re-reminding me just what we were doing there several times. It was a blast, AND I'm proud to say that I stayed the course and only came out of there with only the new dish towels I went in for (although we were all tempted by a few other things). Then, we went over to Sheri's and I drank WAY too much coffee while we all sat around and talked about OURSELVES and not our kids.

Before we knew it, it was 10:30 and we had spent the whole night just hanging out. It was a fun fun night.

I have to say, I am so happy. And my kitchen will be too I'm sure.

[little man] At Work

I got to have my friend Casey over today and she was looking through my scrapbooks, which inspired me to do another paper page. As soon as she left I promptly got out my goodies and got to work. I've had these pictures of gareth helping grandpa and daddy with our remodel project. I love how LITTLE he looks - It's hard to believe that that was almost 3 years ago! Time sure flies!

Gareth was VERY excited when I showed him the finished page after school, and owen quickly said "Where's MY worker man page?"

Life is Beautiful

These moments... are there even words for what they mean to me? My Reecey is so sweet...

This is an actual paper page that I did with my paper cutter and ink and pait and stamps and cute little paper clips. It was really fun fun to do, and ended up having the fun feeling I was looking for. I'm also loving that my figers are a bit stained, and my desk is all cluttered up with scrap stuff. Paper scrapping definately has it's great points.

This is Owen in Dec of 2003. The journaling reads "I love these pictures of you as a baby just lovin' life. Owen, you have this special zest - this sort of energy that is contagious, & if you are smiling that little grin, no one in the room can resist. When I see that smile, that energy, that charisma - I just know you are going to change the world....
I love you my Happy Boy"

Toddler Tae-Bo

Tonight Daddy and gareth were watching something in the livingroom that Owen wasn't really into, so I took him in to the romp-room to pick any movie he wanted to watch. He went through the videos and carefully picked "Tae-Bo".

I told him he didn't want to watch Tae-Bo, that's not a kid movie. He said "I like Tae-Bo, it's funny."
So we turned it on and Reece rushed in to be part of the action. Owen said "Reece, Let's Punch!"
Reece did a lot of dancing and a little bit of arm waving himself.

And, ofcourse they had to climb up onto the train table, because apparently that is the best place for tae-bo punching.

Here is my little toddler Tae-Bo class, complete with the diapers!

YES! I am getting my work done... but I do have to take personal scrap breaks :) This picture is so great because Gareth ACTUALLY got this dirty just riding bikes outside with the neighbor boy.

When I was shopping at Scrapbook Elements this kit: True Grit really stood out to me... Ofcourse I had to get it, and isn't it a perfect match for this picture? It is by Jenna Robertson and it was a piece of cake to make this page.

This is Owen at his last birthday... I had too much fun editing this photo! I could probably spend a full day just playing with selections and colors, smudges and blurs, in the end it is a perfect way to blurr out what isn't important and focus in on my little man.

This is my last LO of the day from Bree Clarkson's sale... Time to get some cabinet work done! I'm sure these are papers I'll be using again, they are just so difinatively boy!

Together

One of my favorite pages I've done in a while because this picture just really captures something special about my boys that I want to remember forever.

Journaling Reads: I love watching you both in this stage in your life as you boys do every- thing together. you are 3 years apart and before we know it you will both have your own lives and your own friends... even now Gareth has moved on to kindergarten and Owen spends the afternoon waiting for “brother” to come home.. I treasure you both and the friend- ship you’ve formed. I think you both know what a treasure it is to have a brother.

This LO and the last are made from some of the new kits I got from Bree Clarkson sale. I'm loving working with my new stuff!!! Also if you go to ScrapMonkey you can find those typewriter keys and photocorners as a FREEBIE!!!

Happy Boy

Tagged! Again!

I got Tagged at ScrapKitchen by Erin (mountaineer)

2 names you go by:
Shawna
Mommy (sad, but I'm pretty nickname-free)

2 parts of your heritage:
Dutch
German

2 things that scare you:
Really intense people
Standing up to people

2 things you are wearing right now:
Jeans
T-Shirt

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
Lisa Loeb
Cold Play

2 favorite songs (at the moment):
Fix you
Sandalwood

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
Caring
Physical Closeness

2 truths:
I can't stand to be alone for more than a few hours
I'm fighting depression

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
A sincere smile
Tallness

2 of your favorite hobbies:
Digital Scrapping
Paper Crafts

2 things you want really badly:
A new digital camera
inner strength

2 places you want to go on vacation:
Spain
England

2 things you want to do before you die:
Learn to play the guitar
Finish College

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick:
I giggle and squeal
I love to talk about people and feelings

2 things you are thinking about now:
What a goon I am
Cooking dinner

2 stores you shop at:
Albertsons
WinCo

2 people you would like to see take the quiz?
Katie
Casey

TAG!!!...YOU'RE IT! (I know, I'm such a tagger!!!)

Wish List

So, I'm really thinking about all the digital kits I'm just dying to have.... and where a better place to talk about it than my blog sweet blog?

I love this kit from Scrap Kitchen the colors are so fun and I really just love these grometed ribbons!







The Green Holly Paper Pack from Jasbeanie is just so fun! I know I could do some cute things with this kit!




Jen Wilson is one of the most incredible digital designers I've seen! She has the most amazing line called her signature line. This one is signature No. 4 and she has great elements that go with these sets too!



Bree Clarkson is having a great sale right now at Scrapbook Elements that I am going to have to pick up some of her adorable kits. We are talking 1-2 dollars for these colorful fun kits!





Okay time for me to go shopping!

Forever Happy In Love

This is George and I on our 5th anniversary in June. My parents and sister watched the kids and we stayed at this great hotel in downtown Portland, it was a perfect weekend.

All the elements are from Dani and I got the paper as a freebie at Something Blue Studios.

My first page about G and I (I love this guy!).

Thursday Thoughts...

After a few weeks off, I'm finally getting around to writing some Thursday thoughts again.

• I've had a really great week, I'm feeling so much better than I have for a while. I've had some really good times with friends and I'm starting to feel, well kind of strong inside. It is a good feeling.
• I've been quite the working woman lately. I am spending my days trying to churn out Digital Layouts for Cascade Cabinets. It is a fun job and a great way to make money doing something I already love, but I am still getting my feet wet and I have a lot to learn about time management. It has been a great experience learning more about what it takes to pull a professional page together. At nights I've been spending my time at my friend Kyla's house. Her husband sells CUTCO and he had 1300 catalogues to send to customers. They hired me to help Kyla staple, stuff, seal and sort. After four nights of catalogue craziness I have earned enough for a new printer!
• My poor boys miss the summer, they been increasingly monkey like lately. I think that being cooped up has not been great for them (or my poor house!) Perhaps after all the catalogue and cabinet craziness I'll brave a trip to and indoor play place of some sort so they can spread some of the mania around!
  

This is what I'm dealing with....

Yes, my 14 month old, who CAN'T EVEN WALK, climbs on to the COUNTERS! He is a monkey I swear!

Love

Reece and Gareth at Christmas time last year, are they the sweetest or what?

This is my first attempt at adding color into a black and white picture, I'm pretty proud.

This is all digital, using Dani Mogstads Home for the Holidays kit, it's just too cozy!

Higher and Higher

Reece's new favorite pastime - Climbing!

Hot Dog!

Gareth is a picky eater, usually we just don't cater to it. As a matter of fact there are many nights that he chooses to skip dinner altogether because he just doesn't like what we are having.

Well tonight we had very few options for dinner. George, Reece, Owen, and I all had leftovers but there was nothing Gareth would want. It's didn't really seem fair to let him go hungry on left-overs night. The pickings in the fridge and freezer were slim, but we could atleast find a hotdog and a bun. Unfortunately, as soon as the hotdog was heated and waiting in it's bun, we saw that we had no ketchup.

We asked Gareth what he wanted on his hot dog, "graham crackers," he was quick to answer.

"Ummm okay... would you like mustard? "

"No. I want ranch... and chocolate syrup."

This kid was serious, we tried to put the crackers on the side of the plate, but Gareth broke them up on top. As we cautiously added the ranch... and the chocolate, we reminded him, "Now you realize this is your dinner, are you sure?"

He smiled big. He was sure.
Gareth happily ate that entire graham cracker, ranch, and chocolate syrup hotdog. Picky eater huh?