Naptime

Sometimes meeting the constant needs of 5 little ones exhausts me completely by...oh...1:30 PM. Especially during weeks back from vacation when the laundry piles are thick, the school supplies are incomplete, the housework is expanding, sweeties are sick, deadlines are looming and my own personal needs are washed away in the chaos of living.

That is why when D was born 8 years ago, I instituted a very strict naptime. Everyone must be quiet on their bed for at least an hour every afternoon. If it has been an especially rowdy morning, it is longer. This allows all those small and larger bodies to gather their thoughts, read or sleep.

Alone.

In silence.


Ahhh...blessed naptime.

How I do love thee.

Adornit Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to my blog Adornit Blog hoppers! I'm excited to be a part of this party! I've never done a blog hop before. If this is your first stop, you will find the beginning right here.

Because I was out-of-town for a few weeks and have been scrambling to get back into real life, I didn't have a chance to create a new project based on the theme: Summer Favorites so I decided to post two layouts that I created a few months ago about my favorite memories from summer 2008.

The first is of my daughter, Z, who is absolutely fearless. This picture that I took of her at swim class illustrates her personality perfectly.


The second layout is of another daughter, E, who discovered the joys of the outdoor shower at the pool. It was the highlight of her morning to play in the shower while the other kiddos took swim lessons.


Again, thank you so much for visiting. I hope that you have a lovely day. Here's our next talented blogger...Lynda Lindley.

xoxo
Bethany

The Next Step and GCD Studios

This month on The Next Step, GCD Studios generously sponsored us. Here is what I did with their Rockets Red Glare line.


My mom took this picture of C a couple of years ago. I just rediscovered it in my stash.

Here are a few close-ups of my stitching.


And my title work. I painted and stitched around my letters.


Next, I decided to alter a few composition notebooks into journals for some special 8 year olds in my life. GCD's paper is perfect for this type of project because it is the absolute perfect weight. Not too heavy to make the journal bulky, but heavy enough to give it substance. I love it.

Here's one for a girl.


One for a boy.


And one last one for my sweet baby.


Today we went to the water park with friends. I chatted with one of my bestest buds, Becky, while the kids had a blast playing in the spray. It was a lovely morning. Now, I'm feeling creative and ready to tackle a layout that has been giving me fits. Hopefully, I can reign it in and complete it today. I'm itching to break into my newest box of My Little Shoebox goodness. I just received the Little Ladies line and I absolutely love it. It is way cuter in person. In fact, the pictures do it no justice. It is just awesome. Seriously. Can't wait to show you.

xoxo
Bethany

Secrets and a Ballerina Girl

Hello Friends!

I'm back from vacation and trying desperately to get back into the swing of things. The kids and I flew to Cape Cod for a week to spend time with my family. Then, we met Todd in Utah to spend time with his. We had loads of fun in both places and I have so many pictures and stories to share with you.

I haven't processed all of my pictures yet so you'll be getting bits and pieces of those stories over the next few weeks.

Until then, I thought that I'd share a few projects that I did for our newest challenge at The Next Step. This month is all about sewing on paper.

I did a lot of doodling on the first layout of my mother-in-law and baby Q on his blessing day.


Materials: Bazzil cardstock, American Crafts pen, sequins, black paint, machine and thread

Here are a few close-ups. I love how that little bird turned out. Love his laced-up shoes. (giggle)


A few swirls. (One of my signature doodle moves.)


I sewed a few sequins on here-and-there. They are hard to see in this picture because they are clear.


My next project is one of my favorites. I didn't have a set plan except that I wanted pink to be the dominant color as it is E's signature hue. I just kept pulling from my stash until it felt complete.

Materials: 12x12 cardboard from packaging; doily; watercolor paper; Making Memories paint, KI Memories paper; American Crafts thickers; Prima bling; Heidi Swapp large photo corner; gesso; machine and thread; various papers from my stash; lace; Imaginesce bling flower; paint chip; sheet music; tulle bow from a gift package; Ranger distress inks; Making Memories paper punched into tag; vintage buttons; Prima flower; JudiKins stamp; 7 Gypsies brad; charcoal pencil, mod podge

I developed this tag journaling technique because I think that a layout is incomplete unless it has some sort of journaling, but the design of the page was a bit full.


The pink paper with punched circles is actually water color paper that I painted and stamped and messed with until I loved it. Then, I put in on this layout and covered it up. (giggle)


It's good to be back. I missed you all.

More CHA Projects

Here's the rest of my projects for My Little Shoebox's booth at CHA.

The first is Zoey showing off her cool-dude moves.


A close-up of what I did with the background.


A very simple card. Totally loving those trees.


Another card. A bit more work involved with this one. I used the white transparencies from MLS and painted over them. If you do this, make sure that you paint on the printed side.


And finally, my project. The clear acrylic background is from Clear Scraps. This picture of Elyssa is just so funny. It was taken by my friend Sara Jarvie.


Just to let you know...I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break for the rest of July. I need a little vacation to refuel my creative spirit. So I'll see you again in August!

Mobile

A certain young man that lives with me is now mobile. Very much so.


I won't mention any names, but it starts with a Q, ends with N and has a UIN in the middle.


Much to my dismay, he is especially drawn to wires. Lovely, delicious-tasting, electrocution-possible wires.


There really isn't a dull moment around here.

Love

Since I am the family photographer, there aren't a whole lot of pictures of me with the children. So those pictures of me are precious.

I recently came across this picture of baby Lyssie and I taken by Sara Jarvie about 2 years ago on a CD. I quickly had it developed and completed this layout.


Materials: My Little Shoebox products; MM brad; Stampers Anon stamp; text page; Sharpie pen; Stazon ink; embroidery floss;


The journaling is adapted from a quote by President Reagan about Marines. I took a few liberties and substituted Mothers for Marines. I think he'd be okay with that.


A side shot so you can see the dimension on the trees. I adore pop dots!


I did this page for the My Little Shoebox booth at CHA using their new Imagine a Forest line. It is going to be hard to part with it! I hope it comes back home in one piece!

Make sure you check out all the new projects on the My Little Shoebox blog. I'm loving what the other DT members did!

Happy Birthday Danika

In my extended family, the end of June starts a series of birthdays that lasts until the end of July. It is quite a busy time of cake-digesting and present opening. I wouldn't change it for the world, however. Today, we celebrated the birthday of a very special 8 year-old girl, Danika.

What can I say about the baby who made me a momma? So much and yet, it is all so close to my heart that I dare not spill too much for fear that I might end up all weepy, blowing my runny nose. Suffice it to say that she is one of the stars in my sky and that she is sweetness, innocence and kindness personified.

I recently made this page of her with a new My Little Shoebox line. My friend, Sara Jarvie, took this picture of her last summer while we waited for her swim lesson to begin.


My titlework. In order to make those bling swirls, I cut up one of the long Prima Say it with crystal swirls. It was nerve-wracking, but I like how it turned out.


I love this corner with the cute bird. It is just so pretty, I think.


A close-up of the frame around my picture. The picture is mounted the cardboard from a torn box of brownie mix that I painted with gesso. I needed something a little more substantial and that seemed to do the trick. To make the edges silver, I dabbed on Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder. The effect is stunning. I'll do this again for sure.


Materials: My Little Shoebox papers, letter stickers and chipboard letters, Prima bling; Maya road chipboard, flowers, buttons and ribbons; text; Judikins embossing powder; cheesecloth; cardboard; machine and thread; sheet music; Versamark ink pad

Beautiful Sunday

Last week's Scrapping the Music challenge was such a fun song: Beautiful Sunday. I seriously loved it so much that it is going on my Scrapbook Music playlist to be listen to over and over and over again at top volume.

Here is my take. I stuck to mainly white and cream colored accents since my background paper supplied so much color.


Materials: American crafts pattern paper, Thickers, metal flower accent; Heidi Swapp tape, large photo corner and corner stamp; machine and thread; Bazzil cardstock; Paper Studio as well as vintage buttons; Paint chip from hardware store; rick-rack, staples; My Little Shoebox mini letters; Imaginesce bling flower; Prima bling swirls; unknown manufacturer of the green star paper; vintage lace; vellum

Next photo is a close-up of the butterfly made of vellum and cardstock. I edged the vellum butterfly with my versamark pad and embossed it with sparkly silver powder.

And I experimented again with dimension with my loopy cardstock "ribbon."


My journaling. You can also see that I zig-zag stitched some of the stripes on the background paper for a bit more texture.


And my title. Three different fonts of American Crafts Thickers. They were part of my prize package. (That was an amazing prize package!)


I hope that you are having a Beautiful Sunday too!

Happy 4th of July

I hope that you had a wonderful Independence Day! We certainly did. We celebrated with a few Sparklers. (Look at that mouth of missing teeth!)


We also went to our Friend Cousins' house (aka my sister-in-law Mandy's brother's house) where we swam, gorged on BBQ and chatted about all kinds of interesting things. My contribution to the festivities were some so-so baked beans. (Won't be using that recipe again.) And some apple pies.

I got started early in the morning with the peeling. (Thank you to Mandy for loaning me her apple corer-peeler-slicer.)


By 8 AM the pies were in the oven.



They were delicious. Happy Day!