think fast

progress?

Eloise - 6

Mom - 1

That's the results of our first day of potty training. I have undies washing as we speak. Sigh. Consistency, I know. I know.

Later.

potty training

Starting the big adventure today - for reals this time. I'm following the 3-Day Potty Training Schedule that Lindsay recommended. I'm excited. By Wednesday night we should be celebrating (if not sooner). I'm stocked up with prizes, treats, stickers and lots of pairs of undies.

Leave me your best potty training tip and I will enter you to win a Starbucks gift card! How about it? (Contest will close Wednesday night when Ello is fully trained!)

 
Later.
P.S. If you are in the mood to win, don't forget to enter Lauri's drawing for a $25.00 gift certificate to My Little Clothesline! Today's the last day to enter.

warm up

Have two fun things to share with you today as you prepare for Turkey Day tomorrow.

First, November 25^th is the last day to take advantage of the great coupon code over at Snapfish. They have teamed up with Paper Crafts Magazine to celebrate World Card Making Day, but the 25% off code is ready to expire. Check it out HERE. You may have seen different crafter's during the past month create and embellish cards using Snapfish products. I tried a few out myself. It was really fun. Before doing this I hadn't really thought of embellishing a premade card. What do you know? It was easy!

First, I ordered a set of these cards - I dropped my own photo of a Starbucks mug into the frame and popped the set into my shopping cart.

 
Since I ordered 12 cards, I purposely didn't add a sentiment there at the bottom. Instead, I embellished several of the cards with stickers and rhinestones. I will keep these in my stash for some "happy mail" (which I send out every so often with Starbucks gift cards included).

 
They are much cuter IRL, btw. Heh.

Next, I tried one of their simple holiday cards. This one came plain, I added the rhinestones and the sticker sentiment. Really quick.

 
Love the vibrant blue on this card.

Then, I ordered up a few Christmas cards. 'Tis the season, after all. Since the sentiment on this card is rather large (which is why I liked it), there was not enough room at the bottom for my passle of kid's names. No problem. When the stack arrived, I printed my own names and greeting on cardstock, then adhered them and added a little bling. I think it looks pretty smart.

 
So, check out Snapfish - they have a lot of great styles and choices. It's easy to be creative when you have such a great start.

Second, as we all look forward to Black Friday shopping – don’t forget about Cyber Monday. Actually, I think I heard that online shopping is hitting an all time high. Makes sense when a lot of folks would rather shop while sitting in their jammies sipping a hot cocoa, right? 

Lauri over at My Little Clothesline is having a little contest starting NOW and going through the weekend to celebrate kids, and online shopping, and Cyber Monday all at one time. Head over to her blog and leave a comment to enter to win a $25.00 gift card! Just think of how far that will go with her prices. Sweet. She would also love if you become her friend on Facebook (click HERE). I’m pretty sure you’ll get an extra chance to win if you do that, too.

Have a great holiday weekend! I might just have a surprise post for Saturday!

Later.

happy thanksgiving

Okay, maybe I'm a couple days early. But, I'm feeling the Thanksgiving love today and want to squeeze every bit out.

 
I had a crop Saturday night with a few sweet friends and Karolyn brought these lovely cookies. Aren't they special? Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. Heh. We also had a potluck supper with appetizers, blackened chicken, pasta salad and crusty rolls. Yum. Good food, good scrappy time. What more could you want?

My list is going pretty well. I have some errands to run today, then tomorrow is dedicated to pie baking. I bake a pretty mean apple pie, if I do say so myself.

In the meantime, I'm going to be thankful for chilly weather, a happy husband (who had a good review at work on Monday), kids with full bellies and a good night's sleep.

Later.
p.s. I posted a fun layout on the Pebbles blog yesterday. You can see it HERE.

monday list

 
Eloise is helping me out by making a To Do list. Whoo-hoo (insert sarcastic voice). It's actually a good idea to start a holiday week with a list. So many fun (and not so fun) things to do.

• Grocery shop (a big one for this week)
• Pack the kids winter clothes (we'll be in Flagstaff for Thanksgiving)
• Post an update on my December Daily foundation
• Photograph and submit two cards for Paper Crafts
• Clean my desktop (oh, if you could see it)
• Wash clothes (nothing new there)
• Create a Facebook contest for MyLittleClothesline.com
• Get to the gym (lost those pesky two pounds-yay!)

That's probably enough for a day or two.
What's on your Monday list?

Later.

garage sale bargains

Before I share those -- the winner of the Card Creations magazine is Candy! (How appropriate is that when talking about the holidays?). I'll send you a note, Candy!

Just have to brag a bit about my latest finds. I wasn't even going to go to any sales last Saturday, but I hit a couple just down the road from my house. It's the few like these that keep me going.

First, a sweet little older couple selling their lifetime collections (or so it seemed). They must have had 100 pieces of milk glass. I came home with these three - $1 each.

 
Aren't they sweet, and even a teensy bit modern looking. I can't wait to stick low packed flowers in them. Sigh.

THen, there was the "guy sale". A mid twenties dude was having a "I'm getting engaged and my family donated this stuff so I could buy a ring" sale. Kind of cute. (And a little strange). I bought an Ipod dock, a Fossill purse, and five pieces of jewelry from him. In his words "These aren't real silver - just costume jewelry". I'm thinking, it's okay, dude. When I saw the Loft box, I was already sold.

 
How many of you saw this necklace at the Loft last season? It was at least eighty bucks. My price? ONE DOLLAR. Eeek.

 
Same for these two beauties. Heavy silver, totally on trend - ONE DOLLAR each. Yeah, baby.

I already gave Meghan and my SIL Lauri the other necklace and bracelet, but five pieces for five bucks. Sweet.

So, off I go again, today. Lauri should be here in a few minutes to pick me up. We occasionally go on Fridays like this, but we have to take the two babies along; it's not quite as effecient. The thrill of the chase is on.

Wish me luck.
Later.

december daily part two

I'm going to share the next step in my December Daily album - actually assembling the album. In one way it's the more mundane part of the project; cutting pages, counting, assembling, etc. On the other hand, it's fun to see a big chunk of it come together; the cover, the shape, the concept.

I started with a Mixed Media album from Fancy Pants. I removed a few of the felt pages (I don't see myself sewing much). Then, I added lots of extra pages including many transparent pages (I tried to photograph them, but it's a bit hard to do). Maybe I'll do a video once it's closer to completion a la Ali Edwards. Ha.

 
I realize now that I'm loading these that I should have used a white background. I'll do that next time. For now, here's the cover. Some really old Heidi Swapp letters (um, 2005?) along with the new Dear Lizzie stickers, paper and Thickers from American Crafts.

 
The cover is actually clear acetate - this photo shows it much better. The Dear Lizzie paper is actually my first page (?). Well, I'll figure that out later. Love it so far, though.

 
This is a few pages in. It's another clear acetate sheet with this KI Memories lace paper  below. I glued the lace paper to the pink cardstock. I love Ali's idea of adhering the lace paper directly to the transparency, but I didn't have any spray adhesive. I might try it for a page later in the book (after a run to Michael's).

 
A simple set of pages here. That's a Hambly tranparency on the left - it floats between the white and teal cardstock. Does that make sense? Love the thickness of their product.

 
A clean and simple page. This is a scrap of die cut paper from Jenni Bowlin Studios that I had hanging around. Love that I can use it here.

 
Here a thick chipboard page (ont he left) from the original mixed media album. A question for you - should I paint it? I'm thinking "yes". But, what color? White? Pink? Red? I think I have enough teal in the book already. Advice, please.

 
Some ledger paper (Heidi Swapp) with a Creative Imagination transparency over it - a bit hard to see in the photo.

 
And one last set of pages. I had to use the ole shoe technique to show you how cute this transparent page is; especially over the Dear Lizzie polka dot. Sweet.

Are you dying of boredom, yet? I obviously haven't figured out how to number each page, nor have I added any of the cute embellishments. I will do those two step somewhat together. I won't add the very fine details until I have photos printed. I love the idea of the three library rings as I anticipate I might switch a few pages around as I go. Nice to be flexible.

So, load my up with your advice. What photos should I NOT miss taking? Help a girl out.

Later.
p.s. I'll announce the winner of the contest tomorrow. Pinky swear.

it's beginning

The holiday season, that is.

I know it's true when I see this in my fridge.

 
Mmm- so good in the morning coffee.

 
And, this is the kid's favorite afternoon snack.

 
The new cups at Starbucks are out...

 
and, I have a craving for one of these.

Yep, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. What screams "the holidays" at your house right now? I'll have another peek at my December Daily tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Later.

 

 

ribbon happy

What could be more happy than a tall stack of ribbon? Not too much. Especially if said ribbon was picked up at a garage sale. Yes!

 
Fifteen lovely rolls. Now the question is - what to do with it? I will save some for cards (love that wide Martha Stewart second from the bottom on the right). But, no card in my imagination needs five yards of ribbon. What would you make? Maybe something for the church craft table. Any suggestions?

 
I could purchase this video access from etsy (at THIS shop), but it seems like I can figure this out by myself seeing as I'm all crafty and such.

I remember Lisa D. making a video awhile back - it was educational AND darned entertaining. Hee.

Okay - the ball's in your court. Load my up with ideas and/or links. (To sweeten the pot, I'll enter your name an extra time in tomorrow's drawing).

Later.

magazine monday

In an attempt to start off this week MUCH better - I'm presenting Magazine Monday. Which is, by the way, a total rip off from the Paper Crafts blog. But hey, I'm okay with it.

First off, Eloise did not need stitches. Keith just shaved the back of her head (great) and applied butterfly bandages. Whoo-hoo. I think. And, I did have a spot of luck at two garage sales on Saturday, so I have that to share this week. See? It's better already.

Back to the magazines...Card Creations Favorite Occasions is first up.

 
This was a really fun issue to work on - very focused on, yeah, your Favorite Occasions. I know this is one I'll be picking up again and again for inspiration. The magazine will be on the newstands tomorrow! Or, you can click on that link above and order up one for yourself. Sweet. (Check out the pretty darn trendy zipper card on page 15 when you get the issue).

Next, this wonderful Holiday special issue from Matthew Mead (of Country  Living fame). I pre-ordered this several months ago and it was such a pleasant surprise to find in my mailbox on Saturday. (See? Ordering online is the way to go).

 
I haven't read it all, just savoring, but so far it's awesome.

And lastly, to put everyone in the right frame of mind, I have one of these to give away.

 
It's our latest issue of Card Creations - this is the big fat one. It came out a few months ago, but if you haven't picked it up, now's your chance to get a free copy. I think a few extra goodies will find their into the mailer, too.

Leave me a comment on why this week is going to GREAT and I'll enter you to win! I'll keep the comments open until Wednesday night then pick a winner. Thanks in advance for lifting me up!

Later.