Sandy Toes & Salty Kisses

Woo Hoo Wednesday! We're halfway through the week and happy 1st of February! Today I wanted to share one of my favorite layouts that I've made thus far in my layout making career (which isn't much if I might add!) Layouts are starting to come a little easier for me and I really enjoy making them! With each layout I make I am able to pull out a photo or series of photos and reminisce on that moment when the photos were taken. The photo in this layout is from a moment that I never want to forget...

Brandon and I have been really good friends since we were little kids (5th grade, maybe 11 or 12 years old max!) and he has been chasing me ever since. We both had gone our own ways for years after school and then got in touch again. He finally convinced me to start dating him in early 2010. He was working about 8 hours away in Harrisburg, PA at this time, so we spent a lot of time on the phone getting to know each other all over again. I decided to take a week off of work and go out to visit him in Harrisburg. The time we spent there was something special for both of us. We both realized that week that we had something special, I guess it has always been there but we never saw it before. This photo is one from that trip, we took a little day trip to Atlantic City, NJ (didn't gamble at all, I was just longing to see the ocean since it is one of my favorite places on earth to be) I have a lot of candid photos from this day that my friend took of Brandon and I, but I thought this one would be perfect for this layout. I really enjoyed reminiscing on this photo, so I just wanted to share the story behind it because this trip really meant a lot to me.

The papers that I used are from one of my favorite collections, Nantucket by Pink Paislee. I also used the wood shapes (they have been glimmer misted) and a piece from the ephemera from this collection as well.

The Polaroid Frame and the Banners are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs and the title is a cut from the Silhouette Online Store (LOOOVE this place!!!).

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy this layout as much as I enjoyed making it! :-)

What am I doing today?

CLEANING MY SCRAPROOM!!!! Lol

Yesterday as I was taking photos of my LSHD DT project, I heard a big crash behind me.... eeeek!!! My wire shelf just fell apart and there went all of my paper pads and Cricut cartridges! Lots of people who saw the photo on my facebook page thought that I just pulled it all out from scrapping, now come on, I'm not THAT messy hehe

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Addicting Games!!!

Ok, so yesterday I started playing a couple of facebook games.... let me just say... I'm ADDICTED now!!! I didn't realize that these games would be so fun and so time consuming! I probably should be scrapping, but I'm having so much fun with farmville and sorority life! lol If you play, come be my neighbor on farmville or join my house on sorority life! If you don't play and want to, beware, it is very addicting!

Long time... No Blog!

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been absent for so long! You could only imagine what a hectic summer I've had! Those of you who know me or are my friend on facebook or myspace probably either know or have a hint of what has gone on, but I'm not going to go into detail here. All I will say is that it has been a long stressful summer and it is FINALLY starting to look up! You know how they say "When it rains, it pours"? Pretty much sums up my summer in a nutshell!

Now on to the better things! I haven't really made anything at all! I've just been so stressed out that I haven't got up to my scraproom! I did however finish 4 custom albums. It was for an order that I got back in May (So sorry it took me so long Lisa!). I think they turned out nice. Here are those albums:






And lastly, another reason I haven't been around much is because I GOT A JOB!!!! :-) It's something that I needed to do for myself. I have been a stay at home mom for the past 3 years (well, I stayed home when I was pregnant too), so it was finally time for me to break that cycle and get out of the house! If anything, it helps to just interact with people who aren't 2 years old lol! My job is at a little clothing store, it's not much and it's part time, but it does get me out of the house! So far, I love it! I've been there almost a month now.

This past weekend I bought a Wii with my first paycheck. Great investment! We have a ps3, but I don't play games too much. I played the Wii at my mother in law's and I loved it! It is very interactive and just a lot of fun for the whole family! My husband and I play it at night and it's a good way for us to spend a little time together.

That's all for now! Hopefully sometime soon I will have more stuff posted on ebay and I will get back in the swing of things! So sorry I've been absent from blogging!

Mother's Day :-)

As we all know, Mother's Day was yesterday {I hope you all had a wonderful time with your mothers & children!}. I spent the day at my Mother-In-Laws with my husband, daughter, and the rest of the family. It was a beautiful day here in Ohio so we had a little cook out!

Here's a pic of my husband Adam and my little Reagan before we left home :-)

I spent Friday evening with my mom, sister, and Reagan and we all went to eat at Cracker Barrel. I picked up a few little red, white, & blue barn stars and a woodwick candle for my mom. That was her gift. I would have made her something, but honestly, with all of these custom orders lately, I haven't had time! I think she enjoyed what we got her though. I know she wouldn't have spent $18 on a candle for herself... ever... but I would because those woodwick candles are amazing!

For my mother-in-law, I had started an album before Christmas and didn't finish it in time, so I was going to give it to her for her birthday in February, but I got busy and didn't get it finished, so I decided to FINALLY finish it for Mother's Day!

Here it is... It is a word book album that says "Michigan" my husbands family goes to northern Michigan every year for a fishing trip around the 4th of July... I'm not an outdoors type of person, so I stay behind, but I thought it would be nice to give her an album to put some of her pics in from their Michigan trips.


I also gave her these fishing embellishments to add to the album. I used K&Co "Happy Trails" paper and embellishments for this album. It's not the Happy Trails line that came out this year though. It's the older one that came out in 2008 {I think}. I also stitched on ever photo mat, which took me a little longer to do this album. I love how these word books turn out, but they are very time consuming, which is why I don't do as many!















Needless to say, she LOVED the album! She's a school teacher so I'm sure she will take it to school and show it off to the other teachers :-)

Lots of Fun Stuff!

As you all can see, I updated my blog template. I am never satisfied with the same thing for a long period of time, so it was time for an update! I'm going to try to update my Myspace page to match my blog as well. I found this cool blog kit at Shabby Miss Jenn Designs you should check out the site! Lots of cute stuff and also lots of great sales! I edited it a little to match what I wanted, but I think it's very Shabby Chic! Love it!

Also, some very exciting news.... Jay Leno is coming to my part of the country tomorrow and I have tickets! :-) I love Jay Leno, he's by far my favorite late night host and I will be very sad in a few weeks when he leaves the Tonight Show. He is coming to Wilmington, Ohio tomorrow for 2 stand up shows. They are free to the public, but you have to get tickets which are first come, first serve. If you live in the area, you should check it out! You can find more information HERE. I'm taking my mom with me, so that will be our Mother's Day present :-) I will try to post pics if I am allowed to take pics!

My Daughter the Supermodel

Well, I hate to say it, but that time has finally come... I have become one of those "Gymboree Crazed Mommy's!" I didn't think I would ever fall into the Gymboree fad for my daughter because their stuff is usually so expensive! A few weeks ago I got on their website and they had stuff marked down 60%, which brings it to about the same prices as Carters and other stores that I normally shop at so I thought I would give it a try because I know Gymboree has a wonderful quality to their clothes. I also had a 20% off coupon that I could use as well. I ended up buying a few things from the Happy Rainbow & Wild One lines. Well, let's just say that I got addicted! Everything is SOOO cute!!! The cool thing is that all of their lines have accessories and everything that match! That way if I buy lots from one line I can mix and match everything! I ended up getting a lot from the Happy Rainbow line and she's pretty much set for her Spring & Summer clothes for this year. I thought I would go ahead and buy some 2t in the Wild One line and keep it for the fall. It's hard to buy ahead because I don't know what size she will be in, but I guess it's worth a shot! If it doesn't fit her at that time, there's always eBay! With this shopping trip I ended up earning $75 in GymBucks which are like coupons that you can use during a certain "redemption" period. To use them I had to buy $150 worth of merchandise and I ended up getting it for $75, so basically 50% off. When I redeemed my GymBucks {last week} I got her a lot of 3t sized clothes for next Spring & Summer from the Social Butterfly line. It's all just too cute... and addicting! I feel like Reagan is my own little Barbie Doll! :-)


Here she is in outfit #1 from Happy Rainbow


She finally let me play with her hair, since it's long enough now we keep it in pig tails when we go out.


Outfit #2 from Happy Rianbow


It was a tough job... but she let me paint her little toenails!


Outfit #3 from Happy Rainbow


The rest of her wardrobe & accessories from Happy Rainbow


Her Fall wardrobe & accessories in Wild One

If you have children and you haven't shopped at Gymboree because of the higher prices, I suggest that you check out their sales! They get new lines every month so they have to make room for them by marking down the old lines! You can also find coupons in magazines like Parents, Parenting, Plum, etc. To learn more about how to get deals & steals at Gymboree, check out GymboHaven or GymboFriends. Sometiems the deals make the clothes even cheaper than Walmart! Beware, Gymboree is ADDICTING!!!

Anyone Up For a Little Remodeling?

As most of you know, this past week has been pretty hectic for me. Though I've got a lot done in my scraproom, it was because I haven't really been able to be in the downstairs part of my house much! We decided to do a little {much needed} remodeling in our bathroom. I've been back and forth to Lowe's more this week than I've been to that store this whole year!!! Here are some before and after pics {thus far}...


This is my border that I tried to match the scheme of my bathroom to. It was hard picking out a floor to go good with this!


Here is the nasty bathroom BEFORE remodeling.


Yes, we had a slight mold problem.


The toilet was also broken and leaky.


Here it is so far after the remodeling!


New tub, new shower, new toilet, new floor, etc!


I LOVE it!!!

There are still a few things that are being worked on. We have trim to go on the mid section of the wall {below the border}, but it isn't up yet in these pics. Also the man doing the work for us is putting in a vent fan/ light today, so hopefully it will be finished soon! I still need to do some painting and retouch some that I already painted, but that's another day. It's a big change and I actually enjoy my bathroom now!

Back Home & Still in Vacation Mode!

Hello everyone! I just have to say, I had the best time on my cruise! I had so much fun that I have already booked for The Rock Boat X which will be next year (Jan 7-11, 2010) from Tampa to Cozumel. I'm pretty excited!!! The picture above is of the ship that I was just on, The Carnival Destiny.

Here are a few highlights of my trip!


On the way down we stopped at Disney world (yes, we drove from Ohio.... not doing that again!).


I rode a carousel, it kinda made me feel like a kid again!


This is a pic of Miami from the boat. Isn't it beautiful?


Amanda & Me during the lifeboat drill. Thank God we didn't go down! I couldn't stand another minute in that life vest!!!


This is a view of the Lido deck on the Carnival Desitiny.


The atrium on the ship.


We went to the Lido deck at sundown to watch Tonic preform.


Our first stop was at Nassau in The Bahamas. Some friends and I decided to do a shore excursion that took us to a little private island. It was so nice I didn't want to leave!!!


The Bahamas was nice... and warm!


Look who I ran into in The Bahamas! It's the middle Hanson brother, Taylor!


Amanda and I enjoying the Graham Colton show in the Palladium.


I found a new drink that I love! It's called an ultimate sunrise... I had "4 or 3 of them"... well that's what I thought... turns out I had 8! So THAT'S why my friends wouldn't let me sing karaoke! lol


We didn't get to land in Half Moon Cay because of the weather... so we walked around and found stuff to do. This is me in the atrium.


I even got to watch the innaguration while laying out!


This is us before we got off the boat. We were incredibly tired!

In the end, this trip was so much fun and I hated to leave! On the way home we ran out of gas on the loooong Florida Turnpike which made our drive home take even longer! Next year we are flying for sure!!!