HELP me pick!

my computer is back.....YAY! that means i can use my scanner again too! i've been dying to get it back so i could scan these preschool pictures of spidergirl.

they are SO good that i am having a hard time choosing which one to buy. and yes, i'm only buying one. as much as i love them and want them ALL, they are ridiculously expensive. but, i'm thankful we have the option of picking just one sheet instead of all ten.




(the pink background doesn't look this weird in person....my scanner doesn't scan pink or yellow very well)



so tell me.........which one is your favorite? and would you get an 8x10 or (2) 5x7's?

doesn't it figure.

my studio materials are strung all over the place and i've got a superbadcreativeitch (yes, that is a word) to make lots of pretty things.

but i can't find anything. ARGH!

so until i get myself organized again, i'm listing it all here with links, so 1. i can remember and 2. you can be inspired too!

(most of these links are to FREE tutorials....BONUS!)
Keyfob Wristlet HERE
Ornament Wreath HERE
Puppet Theatre HERE
Strawberry Pincushion HERE
Ruffly T-shirt Scarf HERE
Pumpkin Spice Playdoh HERE
Felt Play Food HERE
Felt Patterns HERE
OREO cookie turkeys HERE (oooh, don't need my studio for this! hee.)

buried under scrapbook supplies...

everything is fine, i will return soon. i have lots to share, but just about every story is better with pictures. trust me.

i'm slowly making the massive move of my studio to the next room over, but trying to do it without actually packing anything into boxes. dumbest idea ever!

ha. it's a sight to see. but i still don't have my computer with all the bells and whistles back so i can't show you the madness.

this is rockin' the cuteness!

(photo via Sew, Mama, Sew!)

i happened upon this FANASTIC tutorial earlier in the week and forgot all about it until a friend mentioned cotton thread and hand-stitching.

well, ya'll know how much i loooooooooove hand-stitching. i see a similar project like this in my near future.

Melissa from Checkout Girl does amazing hand-stitching/wool felt work. see for yourself in her Little Pink House etsy shop and on her blog.

so, so thankful today for other crafty mamas that love to share their talent with the world via free tutorials! thank you Melissa.....it's so lovely.

hodge podge of randomness

wow. this being without a main computer stuff really puts a kink in my blogging. hrmph. blogging is so much more pleasant (to me anyway) when sharing photos + words.

so, again, i'll resort to the random bulleted list. 'cause i like lists.

• a conversation with emma the other day went a little like this (me) "hey emma....i love you", (emma) "well, mommy, i love you much betterer." said very matter of factly. totally cute.
• ashlyn has decided she wants a guitar. hahhaa. i'm all for supporting her interests, but if you knew how clutzy & uncoordinated this child is, you'd be laughing too. hopefully i can find one thrifting until i can see if she'll really stick with it.
  
• this is day 2 of my computer tower being in the shop to remove what they think is a random virus and i haven't heard a report yet. is that good news or bad news? at $65 per hour for repair, i'm hoping the "oh it'll take less than an hour to repair and you'll have it back in 48 hours" guestimate they gave me was really the case.
• i need it back now! i've got assignments to photograph, and resize, and write instructions for..........and an etsy shop to update!
• i've been trying to make our countdown to christmas activity list of something small to do each day from dec 1 to christmas eve. i'm looking for new, fresh (to us) ideas. what traditions/activities does your family do to celebrate the holiday?
• did i mention that we moved the girls into the same bedroom? yes. we did.
  
• and, did i mention that we moved the playroom into emma's old bedroom? yes. we did.
• only problem with that is that it is about 1/2 the size as it used to be. time to purge toys! (secretly cheering!)
  
• and, did i mention that all that moving means that i can now move my studio into the old playroom? (doing amazing acrobatics! hee.)
  
• and with that move means i'll be at least tripling my space? YAY. don't be hatin' though. my studio before was about the size of two standard 1970s closets. not.big.at.all. AND i'll be sharing it with the girls since they love to scrapbook with me.
  
• and did i mention that the (new) playroom has been organized and turn upside-down at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks because i've moved furniture (which i'm not supposed to be doing) trying to get it all to fit and be functional?
• exhausting just reading it right?
  
• moving along......i have a major itch to create. i think i'm going to work on putting together a December Daily album this year. that Ali E is super inspiring. i tried to do one in 2006 AFTER the month was done and over and, well..........it still isn't done. ha. this year, i'm going to be on the ball.
  
• Spidergirl has decided that she wants a Hello Kitty birthday this year. on the guest list? all boys! this is after last year she wanted Spiderman and had primarily girls at the party. oh, that child of mine. she makes me smile. we'll see if it stays that way in the next two weeks. for the whole year all she's talked about is a snowman birthday cake.
• speaking of her birthday (dec 5.) she knows it's close. every.single.morning. "mommy, is it my birthday today?" no, my child. not today. i think we better make a paper chain countdown this weekend, LOL.
• i've got a handful of scrappy projects to share. as soon as i get that darn computer back!

tell me what you're doing this weekend.......

inspiring me

(necklace image via Anthropologie)
my computer is on the fritz and i currently don't have access to any photos or the ability to use my scanner...bummer.

so instead of ignoring this little space of mine, i've decided that i'm going to share some other little spaces on the net that are inspiring me with a little link love.

• starting with this necklace from anthropologie. it had me at hello. but at $48, i haven't committed to buying it. i keep wishing for someone to buy it for me. hee.
• i'm in love with this one too.
• but then.....i was browsing some favorite blogs earlier in the week and found this fantastic tutorial on kendra's blog showing me how to make my own! *GASP* she's BRILLIANT! if only i knew an inkling about jewelry making i may be able to pull it off. anyone local that can teach me?
• speaking of tutorials...there is a fabulous one (also doubling as a sneak peek into online classes) by Debbie Hodge on Ali E's blog.
• wanting to start my own family doodling sketchbook.
  
• a newly discovered, totally delightful craft blog

addicted to hand-stitching.

there is something so irresistible about hand-stitching. i'm not quite sure why i love it so much, but i do. and i can't resist putting tons of it on every layout i make.

here's my most recent hand-stitched project........with more Autumn Bliss from Little Yellow Bicycle.

hand-stitching + Autumn Bliss = superdeedooper delightful (love.LOVE.love)
(photograph of me and emma taken by Nena Earl, Oct 2007)












do you ever hand-stitch on your layouts/cards? if so, link me up to your project(s) in the comments so i can take a peek!

i laughed so hard i cried.

once a week papers come home from school in a folder called the "Monday folder". I LOVE digging out the Monday folder from Ashlyn's bookbag. for i'm never quite sure what i might find in the Monday folder. but, one thing is for certain, there is always something that makes my heart swell and love her even more-- and always, always something that makes me giggle.

this week, i found this treasure..........it's too good not to share.

"The Wish": A Short Story
by Ashlyn Willis
(typed exactly like she wrote it)

Once upon a time my sister asked for a wand and poof there came a wand. also it could do anything. still I wished for some thing and I got nothing. that sucked a hole lot! i achly (actually) hated that a lot! then she asked for a nother wond cause her other one broke and her parents said no and there it went poof a non break abul wand and she used it to poof me away! auwwww (ouch) i yelled help me and poof came a fairy wond and I poofed my self back up and my sister got grounded. I also always got what I wanted if I wished for some thing and I wished for a TV the next day and the next day I wished to have chiken pie pie for dinner and poof we had it for dinner I loved that it achly rocked cause I love chiken pie pie achly it's my favorit food to eat it has peas, carrots and biskits in it just by saying it it makes me hungre to eat it i'm starving right now but I alredy had lunch all man but I was hungry. I love that stuff but back to dinner it was delishis I ate 7 bouls my sister ate 4 my mom ate 7 like me and my dad just ate brokle carrots and some peas and corn because he doesn't like chiken pie pie that much achly he hates chiken pie pie but I love it my mom does my sister kind of likes it and my doll loves it a lot!

and then later in the night I dreamed of chiken pie pie and I poofed myself down to the kichen and ate all the leftovers and went back to bed my sister was alredy asleep snozing then I could never sleep so then I got an idea! I'll poof myself alseep and then the fairy came down and told me thet the wand ran out of fairy dust she told me it wouldent work so I asked for a nother wand and poof came a nother wond and there and then I poofed myself asleep but it didn't work and down came the fairy and she said sorry about that we ran out but i might have what your need I think thers one more wand and there she gave me here very last wand just for me not for your sister. I said no not for her she's still grounded she, achly she's grounded forever. shwo said the fairy she did not follow the wand rules but you followed the rules that why you did not get grounded but she did I said she is not nice sometimes she is nice but not a lot of times but sometimes shes really really nice to me but sometimes shes nice to my parents ther names are Tania and Doug back to Emma my sister when she's nice to my parents then she'll be nice to them and really really mean to me. I hate that.

funny, funny stuff. into the treasure box it goes. hee.

i just can't get enough of it.

i love fall..........it's my favorite.
so are the red leaves that pepper the lawn.
i love caramel apples.........but the nuts, not so much.
i don't know why i only eat one every 5 years.
they are ridiculously delicious.
this year, i ate 5 to make up for the ones i've missed in the last 5 years.
i love long roadtrips when fall is showing it's brightest colors.
have you ever watched a tree so intently that it seems like you can see the sun kissing new color on the leaves right in front of you?
i do, every fall.
it's magical.
and i love the fall harvest too.
the colors and textures are so perfectly perfect.

it was fun while it lasted

and it only lasted about 5 whole minutes. but emma begged and begged to carve pumpkins this year. we don't carve pumpkins--we paint them. every year. in fact, we haven't carved a pumpkin since ashlyn was 10 months old--she's almost 8. seriously.

i'm certain she only learned about carving a pumpkin from preschool. but, i'm flexible. all kids need to carve pumpkins once during the year their childhood, LOL.

have i mentioned how hard it is to find pumpkins on October 31st? it's hard. nearly impossible. but our local farmers market saved the day....why didn't i think of that first?

so, anywho. sunday, we carved pumpkins. and i was reminded of why we don't carve pumpkins. the kids poop out way too early, then the parents are left doing all the work.



"ewwwwwwww. that's disgusting." giggle.GIGGLE.giggle. on repeat from emma's mouth. besides thinking it was disgusting & delightful at the same time, she also kept freaking out that we were throwing all the pumpkin guts and seeds in the bowl for the trash.

she wanted to keep every.single.seed. she has a little obsession with seeds.

nervous giggles and "i don't want to" was on repeat from ashlyn's mouth. then a minute later she'd be digging in. then washing her hands and back to observing & "no mom, do it this way." then, shyly looking on again.

for the most part, she didn't want any part of touching the goopy goo inside the pumpkins. i didn't figure she would, but she didn't have a meltdown about it either----major progress.



instead she sat and expressed art direction for eye, nose and mouth placement. she was also determined that her dolly be a part of the festivities, so we had to carve a baby pumpkin just for dolly. right now, dolly does everything she does.

i did learn that the apple corer comes in handy for creating the most perfect circles for eyes. emma kept playing with the cut out pieces and plugging them back in like puzzle pieces to make the pumpkin whole again. hysterical.

anywho. we ended up with mr. jack, a kitty and a baby dolly face.


in the end, it's all good. and..... i think that experience will last me another seven years. LOL.