my heart is full

My sister-in-law is getting married this week and tomorrow we are off to sunny Colorado to celebrate this very happy day with her. Here is a sneak peek at the wedding gift I made.

For all of my 3 blog followers :) . . . I will keep you posted with some photos of our trip. Thanks for stopping by!

EK Success - Maple Lane Studio - 6x6 Keepsake with Drawer Easel Stand Shadow Box

http://www.specialmomentscards.com/home-decor.php

lucky friday the 13th

Five years ago today my husband took me to the restaurant where we had our first date (which happened to be on a Friday the 13th as well) and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. It was the most thoughtful, funny, creative and romantic gesture ever.

Last night I was flipping through old albums and found the layout that I created of this memorable day. I really enjoy comparing my old layouts to the pages I create now. It is amazing to me how much scrapbooking styles and techniques have changed over the past few years. A part of me wants to go back and change a few things but I know that in five or ten more years it really won’t matter how great the layout is. I know that when my husband and my kids look at this page the last thing they will be thinking about is the design and that is what it is all about anyway!

my love, my joy, my friend

One of my favorite parts of this Valentine's day card is the ribbon I altered to tie the card together. I cut a piece of pink ric-rac in half and sewed it on top of the baby blue ribbon with a teal zig zag stitch. I love how simple details can add more texture and color to projects. Happy Valentines Day and thanks for looking!

P.S. Looking for cool ribbon? Check out www.ribbonjar.com. The shop by color navigation tool is so fun and the special collection jars are really cool.

I Heart U

With a couple supplies, some candy hearts, and wallet size photos . . . I altered a candy hearts box to make a sweet Valentine’s Day gift.

Supplies:
1. 2 boxes of Brach’s Hearts conversation candies
2. 1 piece of patterned paper
3. 1 pkg of small black letter stickers
4. 1 yard of ribbon and 1pkg of white cross stitch floss ( I love the American Crafts ribbon line)
5. Tools: scissors, glue dots, adhesive, hole punch & lighter (the lighter is optional and it is used to burn the edges of your ribbon to keep it from fraying)

Instructions Front:
1. Open up 1 box of conversation hearts and eat a couple of your favorite color (orange are my fav)
2. Cut out the (To: From: heart) on the back of the box and punch a hole in the top right corner *If you are going to make more than 1 box I would recommend using the heart as a template to make more hearts from another piece of patterned paper
3. Cut your patterned paper 1 ½ inches x 6 ½ and adhere it to the top of your heart box and wrap it all the way around until the ends of the paper match up
4. Tie ribbon around your box on top and in the center of your patterned paper making sure your knot is at the front top right corner
5. Add your tag by tying white floss around the knot of your ribbon
6. For dimension I use a glue dot and placed a conversation heart on the bottom left corner. The hearts are really thick so I just bit one in ½ (sounds crazy but let me know if you know of a better way to cut a conversation heart :)

Instructions Back:
1. Adhere your wallet size photo to the back tucking it underneath your ribbon *Use removable adhesive so that you can use your picture for your wallet
2. Cut out a heart from your leftover ribbon and adhere it to the top right corner on top of your ribbon (this is where the lighter comes in handy because once you cut a shape out from ribbon it can fray very easy)
3. Add letter stickers and use the rest of your ribbon as a fun photo corner

Feels more like April

I love having a warm front in February especially now that I am a mom of a boy who is happiest when he is playing outside. We have the best toddler friendly airport park close to where Parker and I have our weekly lunch date. I plan on keeping him outside until the wonderful 60's go away. Yeap...it's 60 degrees here today in Virgina and we are loving every minute of it.

A few days ago I downloaded a free version of photoshop and I have been playing with it ever since. There are so many different tools you can use to enhance your photos . . . like cropping out the person who accidentally stepped into the background of your favorite picture. I still have a lot to learn and I can't wait to sign up for a class! If you don't already have photoshop here is the link for a free 30 day trial: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/tryout.html

Things that make me smile

I wanted to use this piece of paper from Scenic Route for Parker’s layout, but I wasn‘t sure if the orange would work with the colors in his photo. For a quick fix I used a ruler and an exacto knife to cut around the layers that I wanted to keep…then glued patterned paper behind it. I also used the craft knife to cut out a small section of the blue star and used it as a photo anchor. I know it’s not a new technique, but I thought it was a super easy and fun way to alter a piece of paper to work with photos. I usually keep all of my scraps and use them later, but this time I was able to use the orange star as a template to outline the title…very handy huh!? I hope this layout makes you smile! Thanks for looking.

I Smell Flowers

Ode to the big orange ladder

Katie & Joy

Free People Store Front

Last night I helped the wonderful and sassy girls of Free People do an install. Even though climbing up and down the ladder all night tends to get old it is truly one of my favorite parts about working there. The free people design team continue to inspire me with their eclectic color choices and themes. Just being in this store makes me happy. The girls are fabulous, the clothes are to die for (even though with my discount I still can't afford them), and I love the crazy cool music mix they put together. Check out our Valentines office mix: http://blog.freepeople.com/music/