Adrianna, I love you!

Adrianna just turned five years old and is graduating prek tonight. I’ve been reflecting on what an amazing little girl she is lately and felt compelled to share with you all the many things I love about my amazing little girl. She’s been through so much in her life, and it’s made her into such a strong, wonderful person.

*I love your infalliable curiousity

*I love your excitement for everyting in life

*I love your obsession with horses, ponies, foals, my little ponies, and all things horses

*I love the way you love books and reading

     You are doing an incredible job learning to read too. Our nightly reading time is one of my favorite things

*I love your contagious laugh

*I love your amazing sense of humor

*I love that you are so helpful.   What other kid would ask for a chore chart and an allowance at 4?! You are always trying to find new chores, and you love helping your brother with things.

*I love that you can remember everything (even though sometimes I wish you wouldn’t!)

*I love how sweet you are to your brother

*I love how truly honest and trustworthy you can be

*I love that you want to know everything about everything, and won’t take vague answers on hard topics

*I love watching you grow and learn new things

*I love that you will just randomly decide you want to learn something new, like asking to take piano lessons. I will make this happen for you, somehow!

* I just love everything about being your mom. I’m learning as I go, but you are making me a better person.

Mom’s Day Blog Hop

Have you started on your mother’s day projects yet? If not, then you are probably a procrastinator like me! This blog hop is meant to inspire you to get those projects done so you can relax on mother’s day. If you arrived from Robin’s blog, you are in the right place. If you did not, you can go back to the beginning at Nicolette’s blog.

My  project is one that I hope my mom doesn’t see before I get a chance to give it to her. I’m giving it to her tomorrow since I’m already posted it, I didn’t want her to see it ahead of time.

I made an altered candle. I like to buy up the candles at places like Michael’s when they go on clearance to decorate them. I’m not much of a candle person (with 2 small kids it’d be asking for trouble). So I like to decorate them and give them away. This candle I forget what kind it was smelled super yummy and was pink. I added pink/brown/white paper to it, the paper wasn’t quite long enough so I added a “seam” on the back with coordinated brown with pink stitches ribbon.

I then cut flowers and the little girl from Paisley cartridge. I pop dotted the image onto the flowers and then attached a white circle behind the flowers. The circle is attached with a gluber.

On the top I added an old flower from my stash. I got it at Target a million years ago, but I forget what brand it was.

Thanks for looking and I hope I inspired you. These candles are sooo easy to alter and can take on sooo many fun looks!

Next stop on the hop is Jackie

New card

the image on this card is from The Greeting Farm. The paper is random scraps I had laying around. The flower is from Recollections.

Project Life 2012: Part 1 video

Here is a video I created of my PL so far. This video is part 1 as my memory card filled up fast, I didn’t even get through all of January. That just means I have more stuff to put in the next one.

The lighting is the best, but next time I’ll go outside or something.

Thanks for looking,
Jamie

Lucky Leprechaun’s Blog Hop

In honor of St Patty’s Day, Nicolette has hosted another fun blog hop to inspire you to spend your day crafting.If you came here from Amy Jo’s blog you are in the right place. If not, start at the beginning here

St Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday, represented by green, with hints of gold and leprechauns. I wanted to create something that wasn’t a card or layout. I bought a package of these small canvases. They are 6×9 inches.  Instead of painting it, I sprayed it with Jellybean Glimmer mist. I loved the green/gold sheen to it. I then added two strips of a shimmery green card stock. The leprechaun was cut using recollection’s card stock and was cut using the Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge. The flower came from Creative Chaos (I just love her flowers!). I just love how this came out.

Thanks for checking out my project, the next stop on this hop is Ashley’s blog

One Little Word 2012 update

My “One Little Word” for 2012 is Simplify

(Photo credit: shutter stock, image found on google image search)

This word is important to me because I have a tendancy to overcomplicate aspects of my life. I run myself ragged and get easily overwhelmed sometimes. This has led way to me realizing I need to find ways to SIMPLIFY and streamline my life. This process began in late 2011 as soon as I knew it was my word.

I’m writing this post to help me hold myself accountable.

So far

*If you are one of my regular readers, you’ve noticed that I let this blog go for days or weeks without posts sometimes. I’ve discovered to simplify my life, sometimes this has to be put on the back burner

* I’ve let go of a second job that I truly loved teaching scrapbooking and papercrafts because I was just doing too much.

*Sold my extra cricut because really why did I need 2?!

*On this same note, I’ve also been working on getting rid of useless items, or things I don’t need.

*Bought a kindle to be able to easier carry my textbooks and stuff with me.

*Set up an outlook calender to better track when my homework is due so I don’t miss deadlines.

The most important one so far has been:

*Taken a step back and realized that *I* am more important than the stuff I do, and that sometimes it’s ok to say NO to projects, plans, etc to have time for me and my family.

Are you doing the OLW this year? If so, what is your word and how are you doing with it?

Decorate your home blog hop, day 1

Thanks for joining us  for the first day of this fun hop! There are lots of crafting ladies that are posting today. If you came here from Christine’s blog you are in the right place…if you did not, go back to see Nicolette at the start

I just the love the letters that Chrstine made! Too cute! I am a huge fan of altered letters!

My first day’s post is inspired by the Christmas presents I made this year. I apparently didn’t take pics of any of them before they left my house. This is a dry erase board made using a record album frame. I had accidentally purchased that instead of a scrapbook frame and didn’t realize it until after I opened it. It is about .5″ bigger on all sides. Adrianna helped me paint the cardboard piece that goes in the frame since I knew a little bit of it would be showing. We added a piece of Sassafras Lass paper in the background. The {To do} letters are sassafras stickers as well. I just love how it came it.

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow with another fun home decoration. The last stop on today’s hop is Anita

Happy Crafting,

Jamie

PS. Paula won my last blog candy by default! No one else commented, yay Paula!

Adrianna’s Valentine’s Day Box

Adrianna needed to make a box for Valentine’s Day treats for her pre-k Friendship party.

The cardstock used on this box was Recollections brand. The ladybugs were cut using Cricut and Doodlecharms. They are adhered with action wobbles! (Adrianna LOVES Action Wobbles!!!) The pattern paper is from DCWV. The coloring onthe box is just a random assortment of markers and highlighters. The box was a granola bar box that we recycled. We love how it came out!

Times are changing…

I have been struggling to find a balance in my life, between school, work, kids, and crafting. My word of the year for 2012 is Simplify, as part of that, I’m going to be simplifying my blog, which will hopefully make it easier for me to stay up to date on it. Sure this blog is full of my crafty life, yet sometimes there isn’t much time for that in my life. Starting today, this blog is going to be about my life in general. The good, the bad, the glittery…

Courtesy of Jessica Bridgewater Photography

Meet my two children, Adrianna and Trenton. They keep me very busy. You will read alot about them as they are two of the most important people in my life. They are amazing.

Changito monkey

This card was created using the super cute Changito the monkey stamp by Stampendous. The cs is Recollections, and the pp is DCWV. The buttons are from a embellie swap I did a couple years ago.

I’ve been MIA due to life, I am trying to get more craftiness posted. What have you all been working on lately? Please comment below and I’ll send a random commenter a prize. I’ll pick the winner on Sunday, Feb 12th.

Happy Crafting!

Jamie