Jennifer and Amy

Sharing our Creativity

2011-01-05T22:06:00.001-08:00

So I have seen this little diddy on Facebook and a few blogs today...

Get Creative in 2011-I promise to send something hand made to the first 5 people who comment on this post... Within the year, you will get your surprise. In turn, you must post this as your status/on your blog and send something handmade to your first 5 comments. Lets have some fun and spread the creativity to our friends.

I'm kinda nervous about posting it to my Facebook... I don't know why exactly but I know it is rooted in some kind of fear. It usually dwindles down to that in some way, shape, or form. But here on the blog, I don't have that fear of showing what I make in the scrap cave. Ha Ha! Which is silly, since more people actually have access to this.

In any case, I'm in - I love making stuff for people. If you want to play along, let's go! I think it could be one of those things that connects us across states, time zones, countries even. :)

xo, Jen

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

2010-12-28T09:00:00.001-08:00

We got really busy the last few days before Christmas, but I still got all my photos taken. This project has been really fun for me and I think I want to make it a new tradition for my December.

Here are the final 5 days before Christmas -

5 days Before - we made these really cute button trees from my scrapbooking stash. They boys had a blast making them! They are all unique and individual just like each of our sons too.

4 days Before - Christmas deliveries make me HAPPY! These are the fabulous glitter cups I had made for Amy and Christie (and myself too) They finally arrived today and I am thrilled with how they turned out.

3 days Before - When Amy was here for Thanksgiving she bought a coffee table at this fun shop in Wichita and we needed to deliver it down to OK for them. I decided to make a quick trip of it with the boys and deliver the table and their Christmas gifts from our family. We took the opportunity to drive downtown in OKC to see this really cool Lego show. The boys and Rachel had so much fun seeing all the creations. This Capitol building piece was a favorite! 2 days Before - My sister Natalie and her husband, Mitch arrived to spend the Christmas weekend with us. The boys are ecstatic to have them at the house to play with as much as they want! 1 day Before - We spend Christmas Eve with my parents and I took the opportunity with so many able photographers to grab a quick family photo. These boys make my heart sing and I love spending time with our family! Christmas Morning - New jammies, fully stockings, and expectant little boys! It doesn't get much better than this!Now I get to choose just how to put this great little book together! I can't wait to dig through my Christmas stash and find some fun goodies to make these 13 photos shine. I have some additional journaling to add along with our Christmas/New Year's photo this year. I will definitely post when I am done.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year friends!

xo, Jen

6 and 7 days before Christmas

2010-12-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend was filled with lots of Christmas preparations and traditions and I had a hard time choosing just one photo for each day, but here goes!

On Saturday evening we hopped in the van to go check out Christmas lights around town. We made our favorite stops but also found this great house out west here. The family has their lights set to music and it is a spectacular show. I hope to maybe see it again later this week too.

Today we decided to do a bit of Christmas grocery shopping. Ken and I got away for a short time and headed to Dillons. It was surprisingly not busy there and I was thankful for that for sure. A little Starbucks kept me company along the way too. A good start to our baking/cooking traditions this week.

Can you tell I am really having fun with this? See you tomorrow!

xo, Jen

8 days before Christmas

2010-12-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

It has become our family tradition of decorating a gingerbread house the day the boys get out of school for their Christmas break. It really kicks off our time home together and they truly have a blast doing it. I keep my hands off and it is totally their creation! This year we did little mini cottages and ice cream cone trees. The coconut snow really adds to the theme, don't you think? ;)

I think this may have become my favorite activity/tradition of the entire season!
xo, Jen

9 days before Christmas

2010-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

This little 12 days project has just been too perfect for me! I can't wait until each day because I am making a conscious effort to have some little celebration of Christmas every day. And in no ways are these BIG efforts, but just something to remind us of how close we are getting to one of my favorite holidays!

After we went to supper and ran to the grocery store I asked the big boys if they wanted to make these ornaments that I had seen last year and never got the chance to make. They were game (which is kind of a big deal to me since usually they say no) and we turned on the Incredibles for Kaden and got to work. I used Kenny as a guinea pig and since he didn't have too much trouble I let Jackson come make one too. I had to stop them because they wanted to keep making more and bedtime was fast approaching . I think we will make more this weekend and then tie them on Christmas gifts for our family.

It is fun to get crafty with them! This was a good reminder to me that we should do simple projects like this more often.

Happy Crafting! Please link up if you make some too!

xo, Jen

10 days before Christmas

2010-12-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I'm not feeling well today and Ken is out of town this week on business, but I got my photo nonetheless. I had a really rough night with Jackson last night... not getting to go to bed until after 2:00 am. If anyone ever wants to know what it's like at night to have a kid with diabetes, it's like having a newborn you have to fear for every night of your life! But I digress...

Until this weekend I didn't have any Christmas socks, but Amy and I saw these at Old Navy when we were on the hunt for $5 fleece jackets for our families. She picked up a few pairs and I have to admit they are really comfy and make me smile when I look down at my feet. So tonight we had planned to watch the Sing Off and I jumped at the chance to get in jammies early too. It's such a fun show that Kenny and I have been watching this December and I couldn't help but snap a picture of my fun socks while watching the show. Sometimes you gotta look for the Christmas in the small things! ;)
Here's hoping we have a quiet night and the antibiotics kick in soon!
xo, Jen

11 and 12 days before Christmas

2010-12-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

So I decided that a Daily December was probably too much for me this year, but I love doing a little Christmas-y Book each year. I hadn't fully commited to any project this year until yesterday and there's still time to do this one if you are like me and wait til the last minute to create a project. I found this idea on Write. Click. Scrapbook. and decided it would be perfect for this year! Even I can handle the 12 days leading up to Christmas with a photo/story a day! I chose to begin yesterday and then I will have a page of Christmas day too in my book. For now, I plan to upload my photo and story each day and then create my book AFTER the holidays. I will be able to refer back here for my journaling when I sit down to put it together. Easy Peasy!

So here is my photo from yesterday -

Every year in preschool, Kaden's class goes on a trip to the North Pole on the "Polar Express" and today was the day! He got to wear his new Spongebob winter jammies to school and he thoroughly enjoyed his trip. He got in the car telling me all about it and showed me the jingle bell that Santa gave to him as a gift. He couldn't stop jingling it all day! This year he is really getting into the Christmas spirit and he even sat on Santa's lap with no tears. He told Santa he wants a "remote control monster truck" this year. It's so much fun to experience Christmas with a preschooler!

I am absolutely giddy about today's picture -

This is a picture of the boys' completely up to date ornament albums. Each year I give the boys a Christmas ornament for our family tree. I have always planned for these ornaments to be a gift to each of them and their brides-to-be when they get married and have trees of their own. I wanted to make a book to document each ornament, the year, and the reasons for choosing each ornament. I finally got the books ready to go, all the photos taken, AND the pages made up to the current year. I finished them up this morning and I love they way they look all lined up on the shelf! I hope they will be treasured gifts for my children in the years to come.

How easy is this??? I love it!

Won't you play along with me too?

xo, Jennifer

Shall we try this again?

2010-08-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

We've toyed with the idea of stopping this poor, neglected blog but honestly, I still kinda like it. And when I realize it has been going (maybe not strong, but going nonetheless) for almost 3 years, I can't make myself fully give it up.

So maybe we'll try again?

Is anyone reading our crazy followings?

Looking at our pretty layouts and projects?

Laughing at poor Jennifer trying to raise 3 boys?

Oh wait! Don't answer that last one...

In any case, in the effort to keep this 'ole blog kickin' for a little longer - here are a few goodies from the minimal amount of scrapbooking that happened between Amy and I this summer. I was in May Flaum's Camp Scrap class and for the weeks it was in session I was on fire! It was like a marathon crop every day! I love her style and presentation and loved the outcome of what I gleaned from her class.

My sweet hubby was a groomsman in my baby brother's wedding... at 31 he was by far the oldest, but he hung in there at the Bachelor Party playing kickball, LOL!

I had never realized that there was an actual reason we say, "tying the knot." I know! I should have guessed, but in any case, it was fun to document it for my sister and bro-in-law.

Dude, I just love this kid! And it was fun to play around with some LOM stuff for this page about our student athlete.

And who wouldn't love these adorable baseball boys! I got on the banner train with this page and it is definitely one of my faves these days!

So should we stick around?

Do you want to read about our crazy happenings?

Leave us a note and we'll try...

really.... we will.

xo, Jen

summer sneaky

2010-06-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Scrapbook Chicks has just released 2 brand new (and inexpensive) kits for June. Amy and I had the chance to each work with one this weekend and they are wonderfully fabulous. I'm getting all the photos organized of both kits later, but for now... a little peek of scrappy goodness! If you haven't checked out the latest installment of "Finished in Fifteen," head over to the Chickadee's Blog and watch the very short (less than 20 minutes total!) video Susan made last night. I am heading down to the crafty cave to work on my version of it right now. You can catch a glance of both kits there too along with some layout inspiration.

Things I am loving right now ...

2010-06-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

I love pictures. I love the emotions that are invoked when you look at pictures. I love watching kids grow through pictures. I love comparing pictures of Rachel to pictures of Jason and I at the same age!! Well like any other crazy mom in these days ofdigital photography I have more pictures than I will ever need. And it is so hard to get them all organized and sorted. BUT since I got my new computer I have iPhoto and can I just say I am enamored with this program. I have folders with the faces of people we love ... and I can set the program to search for all the pictures on my computer that have that person. I can also set it to find all the pictures of a particular event or place. I am having SO MUCH FUN! Jason thinks I am nuts, but thankfully I can call my brother-in-law and he can understand my love of iPhoto!!

I LOVE scrapbooking - I know hard to believe right?!

At the moment I am taking an online scrappy class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. And I am loving it. It is called "BAKER'S DOZEN" and I get a daily email prompt to be creative. By the end of the 4 weeks of class I will have 13 layouts completed. It is so much fun.

Speaking of BPS ... can I just say I LOVE Stacy Julian - one of the Big Picture Scrapbooking head gurus! I love to read her blog - she has some really fun ideas on there. Stacy has always been a "real" person on her blog - posting about the ups and downs of life - not just the perky upbeat things that are happy. In the last month or so, she has been posting videos going through her scrappy storage system. She is very real in those videos - in fact she ate breakfast while she filmed one of them. But this is not why I am professing why I love her right now. This week I found out something new to love about her. On the Big Picture blog she has been posting videos of her good ideas. And what I found out about Stacy Julian is that she is a DORK just like me. If you don't believe me ... go look at the videos she posted on the BPS blog this week ... I dare you to say she is not loveably dorky!! Can't you see me being dorky on a video - if I had a reason to post one?!

And in all things scrappy ... I can't leave without saying I LOVE scrapbook supplies. I found a new scrapbook store right here in Edmond today. They have some fun new products as well as the old favourites. But they have classes and crops which makes me very happy. There was not a lot for me to buy though since I LOVE Scrapbook Chicks and have pretty much bought all the new stuff I have seen from there! They are doing pre-orders of Bo Bunny right now - and you can get a discount if you pre-order - love me a discount!! One of my most favourite things from Scrapbook chicks is the Chick 'N Stuff in all the colours of the rainbow. I am slowly building up supply of Chick 'N Feathers!!! I have Orange, yellow, blue, white, brown, green and pink. Still need a few colours, but the monthly budget does not allow for every colour to be bought all at once!! This is a picture of pink Chick 'N Feathers - flowers, bows, puffy embellies - all kinds of fun treasures.

I highly suggest ordering some simply for the cute take-out container that they come in. Chick 'N Feed is buttons, sequins and other fun treasures and the Chick 'N Noodles are differing kinds of ribbons and fibers. All so much fun!!

Speaking of budgets ... right now I love Dave Ramsey and his total money make-over! Jason and I took his financial Peace course last year in Midland and we have totally changed the way we view money. We do not have the drop down fights we used to have about money and in fact we are debt free except for our house. Feels great! If you are struggling in the money part of your world, I highly suggest take the financial peace class - or at least find his radio show and listen to it - especially on Fridays when he features people just like you and me who have worked the program and have become debt free.

Well that is just a list of a few things I am loving right now. Feel free to comment with some of the things you are loving right now ...

Looking forward to Summer

2010-05-25T12:54:00.001-07:00

when life won't be quite as hectic and I can catch more moments in the crafty cave, LOL! For now here are my Scrapbook Chicks May kit projects. It is a fabulous kit that I seriously only have scraps left from. I made so many layouts with this kit (I think, 9 total) and a bunch of teacher thank you cards AND a set of magnets (which I missed a photo of since it was the last week of school haha) It's perfect for so many different themes and events. Pick one up today!

I told you it was an awesome kit! Really get one today! Don't wait another minute!

April Showers ... in May??

2010-05-13T10:06:00.001-07:00

... not really showers .... more like torrential rain falling side-ways because of the wind, tornado sirens going off, hail as big as a grapefruit and tornadoes touching down. Welcome to tornado alley --- when can they install my storm shelter??? Monday night in both Oklahoma City and Wichita there were severe storms everywhere! Jennifer was dealing with her little people experiencing tornado watch/warnings which is pretty new to the kids having just moved back to KS last summer. The whole safe-room tornado siren sounding for more than just a test was new to me too. Rachel and I were in our closet - and I mean literally in our coat closet - that is our safe room - I did NOT feel all that safe in there. Jason put our name on the list to get a storm shelter installed in the garage the next day - it can't come soon enough for me!!

Luckily we were not hit with the big storms that devastated parts of Oklahoma just south of Oklahoma City. From what the news said 2 tornadoes touched down at the same time causing so much loss. My heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones. They interviewed one guy who lost his house and he said "it is just a house, it can be rebuilt - what's important is that nobody was hurt and really that is all that matters" Amen to that!

On a more positive note ... the Scrapbook Chicks monthly kit is up for sale now! Jennifer and I got to play with this kit together as I picked it up the last time I was in Wichita. We split some of the add-ons, but for the most part I just used the kit. And I made a TON of stuff with it. A perpetual calendar, a 2 page spread and 4 single pages. I have also used scraps on some other projects too.

This is a fun page about our saturday tradition in Midland. When we first moved there we went to Micheal's for kids' crafts every Saturday. Rachel came to love going and we never stopped! I still have those chicks in my scraproom!
Jason and Rachel love to play in the rain puddles ... this is just a quick page about this fun love they have. It took her 8 year old cousin to teach Rachel to ride her bike - took them most of last summer but with her cousin's help she mastered it!!I came home to this sight one day ... spring cleaning. All I could think of was the birds who laugh at the humans running into the clean glass doors on those Windex commercials.Susan challenged the design team to use the lyrics "My Best Days are Ahead of Me". I just adore this picture of Jason and Rachel walking into the airport when he was leaving to do his final project presentation. I tweaked the words in the song's title, but I thought this picture was perfect for this challenge!If you happen to be at the Two Chicks store - check out all that there is to offer. The prices are super good and it is stocked with loads of new papers and embellishments. I am in LOVE with the new Pebbles paper - and in fact it is all I scrapped with on National Scrapbook Day when Jennifer was here with me. Here are just a few of my creations ...

Another bit of sad news that Jennifer and I got this week - one of our most favourite Scrappy places is closing! A Peek Into Yesterday - our first online scrapbook home is closing for good. We are both so sad - Pat (the owner) is so awesome and the community has grown very close over the last few years. Pat is selling everything and has some great deals. I am going to miss that community, but hopefully though Facebook and blogs we will be able to stay in touch! The message board is still up at the moment, so if you have not been there in a while - go check out some of the Memory threads - you will have a smile in your heart for sure.

To close ... last night I was split on the result of the hockey game ... Sid "the Kid" Crosby and his Penguins lost to the Montreal Canadians. I was torn because I had the Pens going to the end and Crosby is from NS like me BUT the Canadians are the last Canadian team in the playoffs. Be nice to see those red jerseys hold up the cup once again. For now I am OUT of contention for the hockey pool as I only have 2 players remaining. Jen's husband is in 1st place and could possibly go all the way to the end this year! Fingers crossed - then they can stop saying that the pool is rigged for a vanderkooi to win every year - haha. At least if he wins it is still in the family :) good luck Ken!!!!

Happy scrapping
Amy

It's BACK and I am so excited ...

2010-04-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

My desire to just sit and create. It has been a long while since I have had the real desire to sit down and create. It has been a journey ...

January 2008 started off with a bang! Jennifer and I had decided to take over Scrappin Mojo with another friend/member and we were all so very excited about running this great challenge-based scrapping community. Jennifer and I were doing LOAD (layout a day) with tons of other online scrappers at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I was having so much fun creating, playing with my scrappy stuff and thinking of fun ways to inspire the members of our website. We had on-line crops, taught mini classes, gathered inspirations from all over the Internet to help the girls with gift ideas for Christmas. Sure there was the boring daily tasks of deleting all the spammers and making sure the site was running correctly - but the fun out-weighed the effort required to run the site. And while I did not have the same amount of time to dedicate to my own scrapbook pages, I was still able to create some super fun stuff!!

Just before Christmas there was an event - a break-up of sorts and we were given an ultimatum. As much as I loved running that site, there was no way I was going to choose a website over family - and well Jennifer IS FAMILY. Without getting into the details - because they really don't matter anymore - Jennifer and I made the decision to hand the site over to the 3rd 'partner'. And while we miss what we had there - we are OK and the site is doing fine as well. However the whole ordeal really affected me in a negative manner. It was more than just missing a scrapbooking website - it felt like a real loss to me. And I guess I needed time to grieve through it and move past some of the things that were said and the way things were handled. (Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am UBER over-protective of my friends and family and I will not have anyone hurt them or say things about them.)

Well that grieving process seemed to go on forever. I think I completed about 15 pages in all of last year. I just could not get into it. Jennifer tried everything to get me to do some pages, my friends at A Peek Into Yesterday were missing my pages .... nothing worked. Then I decided to purge my scrapbooking space of extra stuff. Some of the stuff went to recycling, some to the trash but most of it went to my friend Krista who was so excited with all this new stuff. She was able to create some memorial albums for her family as they suffered the loss of several members last year. And it somehow hit me - THAT is what scrapbooking is all about. Creating FOR FAMILY! The loss I had suffered was not that of family but it was the loss of a relationship that had been built on trust and mutual respect. But I still HAVE my family and I can still create for us, saving our memories and have fun while being creative.

During this whole time lots of other life things have happened -- one of the more significant being Jennifer's move back to Wichita. (This brought them to within driving distance ... meaning we could be together for celebrations - always good for the soul!) Jennifer also reconnected with a friend who just happened to be starting a scrapbook kit company. So Jennifer began creating for the kit club and convinced me that I needed to get these kits, that they would help on my road back to the scrapbooking world.

And you know what - they DID create a little spark in me ...Since then, I have moved to Oklahoma City and the house we bought has the perfect space to call my own. Jason bought me a great counter height table, I have fun storage for all my scrappy goodness and I am creating again. In fact when Jennifer suggested that I go out for the design team at Scrapbook Chicks ... I went for it. And I made it on the team - Jennifer said she had nothing to do with that - but I am sure she did not hurt my chances either - haha.

I look forward to receiving my kits each month and I can't wait to get creating with it. The monthly club company has now grown to include a store full of scrappy goodness to play with!!! I created this fun page this week with papers from the January kit and a sketch from Ella Publishing.

I am going to visit Jennifer and I can't wait to get there and just start scrapbooking with my partner in crime - or more appropriately my partner in paper. I can't tell you exactly when the little spark ignited into this flame of desire to be creative - but it did and I could not be happier. Just in time for National Scrapbook Day on May 1, when Jennifer will be joining me in my scrappy space and we will be playing with our online scrappy friends.

Happy Scrapping!!
Amy
xo

Weekend Fun

2010-04-16T21:46:00.001-07:00

Will you have a chance to create this weekend? Amy and I cropped together (in our on-the-phone-way) tonight for the first time in a LONG time. It was fun and we both got a page done. Amy used her lightening speed scrapper skills to whip up the same sketch that took me just a bit longer. Can't wait to show you in the morning! Come over and join us on the Two Chicks Facebook Fan Page for the awesome sketch! There is a gift certificate for one lucky winner of the sketch challenge each week. Susan makes the most incredible and easy to use sketches for us. I LOVE them!

And even bigger news, check back next week... we have our first giveaway planned! YAY!

2010-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Jennifer writes these cute blog posts complete with WAY cute pictures of her seriously (and I mean SERIOUSLY) cute crafty projects. If she had not told me she made that topiary I would have sworn she paid oodles for it at some fancy decorating place. But no - not Jennifer - she drives through blog world and finds the cutest things to make. I have seen that topiary in person and it is SO darn cute!! But the cuteness does not end there - nope ... there are the cute things she has made for her scrappy room, the awesome projects she has made for her boys and the fun (and inexpensive) things she has made to decorate her house.

Jennifer is my BEST friend ... the person I turn to when I can't talk to anyone else ... the person who can call me and say "get your butt up and do something with your life today" (and not be hung up on). In Grey's Anatomy terms - she is MY person. Now that does not take away from my husband (or hers) because God love him he can say the same things to me as Jennifer - but the delivery is just not the same. And he just does not appreciate a good scrappy page from a crappy one. He can look at a bummer of a page and try to make me feel better when what I need to hear is "Yeah it is missing the mark" which is what I get from Jennifer. A husband knows better than to say yes you look fat in that dress, no that page is not stellar and I agree with you that girl is beautiful - THAT is the kind of thing that can only come from a girlfriend!!!
Though we are alike in many ways - there are loads of things that are different. I have 1 daughter- she has 3 sons, we grew up in different countries, she remembers songs I have never heard of (867-5???) Maybe I was studying for a big test or something ... in any case we have different styles, likes and dislikes but no matter what those are we compliment each other. I try to keep up with the blogs she tells me about, and I agree tons of the stuff she finds is TOTALLY adorable. I can see all of it looking cute in my house ... difference is - she decides she is going to make the cute things and she ACTUALLY does it! I just look and never do it ...

BUT NOT TODAY ... Two Chicks put up this totally cute sketch this afternoon and I said I was going to do it --- AND I DID IT!!! And here it is ... I have had this page in my head since I got the picture of Jennifer (the person) and her namesake Jennifer (the cat). NO I DID NOT NAME THE CAT - Rachel did when she was 4! When I saw the sketch it was perfect for these pictures. So I pulled out my handy Two Chicks April kit and put this together. Used a few pieces from my brown Chick 'n Feathers and some buttons from my Chick 'n Feed and some alphas from the March kit. And VOILA - I love this ... the full title it "nature vs nurture? maybe the crazy is from Jennifer" and on the picture are the words (the person not the cat).

I wonder if I bought all the supplies for the topiary if she would make me one? She has banned me from the hot glue gun since the episode of making VBS horses in 2005 ...

xo
Amy

Topiary Envy

2010-04-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

So, here's the deal, one of my dear friends in Fresno had these two great topiaries and from the very first moment I saw them in her living room I tried to devise a plan to get them to my home. Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to stash a 30" high tree in your handbag or sweatshirt. So in my efforts at not becoming a full on criminal, I started to search high and low (and really low sometimes) for something to match the beauty of these fun little decorating accessories. I was amazed at just how pricey these guys can be!! Of course, with my cadillac tastes, I was finding them for upward of $50 (or MORE!) each! OMGoodness!!! Are you kidding me?? I really had no idea when I started my hunt that they would be so expensive.

Bring in Dave Ramsey... UGH! Dave certainly has no room in our current budget for these trees. But my living room really needed at least one. I have a teensy home decor budget each month so I began searching blog land for how to make one... remembering that I am really better with paper than anything else. But oh how I was dreaming of my very own topiary! Finally, after months of searching I found exactly what I was looking for! Right HERE. So I gathered up the stuff and spent an afternoon burning my fingers all in the name of decorating.

Here is a little look at my steps:

First, I ripped all these little boxwood pieces off of close to 4 stems I picked up at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. YAY! Couldn't have created this without that sale.

Next, I used my extremely scientific tool to poke shallow holes in the green floral ball to push the stems into after adding a drop of hot glue on the ends. There was an insane amount of hot glue used in the creation of this topiary, but that's ok with me. After all this trouble, I don't want this sucker falling apart on me!Using the tutorial from Miss Mustard Seed, I proceeded to add the boxwood in all around the ball while it rested on another scientific-topiary-making-holder.After a few hours of ripping stems, poking holes, cursing the hot glue gun, and general praises to myself of "look how cute this is gonna be!" it was finished. Look at her in all her topiary glory! I had to run out before it snowed again to find the perfect stick from one of our trees (shhhhh, just don't mention this to Ken) but I LOVE the way she came out. I have plans for a second one just as soon as HL has another sale. He He!
Note: I would like to dedicate this post to never giving up on your dreams, no matter how demented and self-centered they may be. ;)

A GOOD Good Friday Post

2010-04-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well here I sit, in Oklahoma, boxes (mostly) unpacked, car in the garage and ready to start life as a Canadian Okie. Not sure how I am going to do with storm season, but this morning I awoke to the weather radio alarm letting us know that there was a hail storm on the way. And darn - it showed up exactly when they said ... Jason - we're not in Texas anymore. The weather predictions from where we lived were not always that accurate!

It is Good Friday and there is no shortage of Churches to choose to attend for Good Friday service. We will go to the one we attended this past Sunday - since we know a bit about how to get around there. Seriously the Churches here are HUGE. I think it will be interesting to try a few out and decide where we will end up. As for the rest of the weekend we had planned to do a bunch of stuff around the house until last evening when Jennifer called and suggested we head up there for Easter. So we will leave tomorrow sometime - so cool to be only 2 hours from her now!!!

Well there have been a lot of changes since I last posted ... new house, new state, new school ... the list goes on. One thing that has not changed ... scrapping and the awesome kits from Two Chicks ... in the midst of packing and unpacking I have been able to get some pages done ...

As you can see ... lots if FUN patterns and colours to play with. I still have pages up my sleeve, but I think my family is appreciative that our house is looking more like a home than a packing plant!

Have a great Easter!!
Amy

This is no joke!

2010-04-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

The April Kit from Two Chicks is the bestest kit evah!!! I know I say that all the time, but I really truly love this one. It includes all my favorites - Great patterned papers with lots of small patterns to cut up, punch, tear, stamp; versatile die cut sheet with lots of uses; ribbons, need I say more? ; oodles of bright colored buttons, and alphabets to die for! There is even a die cut paper too!! WOW!! I have lots left over and a list of pages to create that is a mile long. It has been perfect for creating lots of LOM layouts too. Just fun and unique and perfect. ;)

I have another really cute one that I couldn't get good lighting for yesterday. Stop back by to see it and all of Amy's creations too.

another little peek

2010-03-26T18:47:00.001-07:00

april sneak jen 2
Originally uploaded by jenallred01

Here's another quick peek at one of my projects for the April Two Chicks Designs kit. This time I am featuring a couple of the add ons... girls you are gonna want it all this month! I'm heading down to the crafty cave now to finish up 2 other projects with this kit right now. It is absolutely lovely!

you know how I love sneak peeks!!

2010-03-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

april sneak jen 3
Originally uploaded by jenallred01

Just a drive-by post to show you a little taste of what I have been working on in my newly organized craft room.... I can barely wait to show you all the projects I created with the April Two Chicks Designs Kit!!! It is one of my favorite kits of all time! I have so many projects I want to work on using this kit, yes, it is just that good!

I am hoping that our weather was Lion-like enough!

2010-03-03T11:42:00.001-08:00

And that March will start heading in the direction of lamb-status. LOL! The weather wasn't too bad on Monday, but it was a little gray and gloomy. And unfortunately, so was my mood. So I am hoping my growls and roars will turn to sweet thoughts and words before the end of the month too. I am definitely looking forward to spring! Our first winter back in the Midwest has been brutal on me and the boys. You really get used to that California sunshine, LOL! So in keeping with the sunshine theme, all my projects for this months Two Chicks Designs were created with photos from the time we lived in Fresno. It made me smile a bit while I was working and added a little bit of scrappy sunshine to my dreary winter days. So here comes the SUN!!!
How yummy and fun is this cardboard flower??? I knew these photos of the boys in our moving boxes when we first moved to Fresno needed a VERY special embellie indeed!
Jackson did some of the neatest projects in his Kinder class last year and we tried really hard to catch a leprechaun last St. Patrick's Day - even Martha Stewart, in all her glittery goodness, couldn't help us out here. But the memories we made are seriously priceless!Me and Glimmer Mist became friends - OH yes we did!!!
Could these wings be any cuter? You can find them in Chick N Feathers! And you get a whole custom container in this March kit. YAY!
The softer colors in this kit were perfect to document Jackson's first lost tooth. I used a fun Ella Publishing sketch too. ;)And if these layouts weren't enough - I made an entire 6x6 mini album with it!!! It goes to show you just how much product (especially patterned papers) are in this kit! Just some extra chipboard sheets cut down to size and a modified version of Finish Line Scrapbooking made this album super quick to create. I did it all in one afternoon!
Chick n Feed and Chick n Feathers are the perfect accents for mini projects - they are just jam packed, I tell ya!So there's my little bright spot for this month! I know Amy has been busy on some really cute 2 page layouts too that she will share very soon!

so many projects...

2010-03-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

so little time! Ha! Like I said on the 'coop, I have like 20 or so projects in waiting at any given time, but one that is half finished right now is this canvas. I have all the strips of paper just waiting to actually get the rules on it and finish it up. I thought maybe if I put it up here, I would actually get going... we'll see... ;)

2 of my favorites and 4x6's

2010-03-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

When we joined the Chick A Dee's last month, we were asked to submit 3 of our favorite projects for the blog. Since I am not really friends with technology most days, I just grabbed 3 projects from my desktop and called it good, but truly these next layouts are 2 of my most favorite ones. So if you have arrived here from the Chick N Coop - a little more eye candy from me!

This one documents our "monster cookies" making experience for Kenny's 11th birthday last September. My mom made monster cookies for my 5th school birthday so we made them for Kenny too. You make them in a bucket - SO MUCH fun and soooo YUMMY!

This next one is one of my most favorite layouts - Scenic Route was one of my most favorite scrapbooking companies and I was fortunate enough to work with their products for my last design team requirement at Pocketful of Treasures. I documented a really fun treat place in Fresno for this one. You know the coolest thing about these layouts - and pretty much ALL my layouts? I only truly use 4x6 photos! There are so many cool ways to use these easy-to-find print sizes. So when you think you need specialized sizes, think again!

Leave us a note if you stopped by! We love making new friends!!!

The last day of February - really?!

2010-02-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that we are spending the last few hours of February already. I guess with the last few weeks filled with Olympic triumphs and tragedies the hours have been flown by.

As Jennifer said in the previous post, this weekend was supposed to be filled with laughs, fun and a lot of creative time together. Sadly I was doing all this stuff on my own as we made the responsible choice for her to remain in KS. It seems unfair that the weather forecasts could have been SO WRONG - but we had to go with what we were told. Thankfully Jason made it home (on beautifully sunny roads) so that I could go to my crop this weekend. He left late today (still in beautiful sunny weather) because of the Canada - USA Gold medal hockey game. Sadly an agent wanted to show our house at 4:30 and we all had to miss the end of the game and Sydney's golden goal.

Back to my crop ... I had a great time with all the girls there. It was a LOT bigger than the last one, with at least 30 people there on Friday night and about 20 all day Saturday. Leisha made us fabulous food again and there were snacks and drinks being shared freely the entire time. I took my February and March Two Chicks kits with me along with all my cute Chick'n Stuff containers. The weekend was filled with some good chats, lots of laughs and great food. I was also able to come away with the following projects and still have some that are not quite finished. I loved working with these kits, and the Chick'n Stuff is so darn cute that it is hard to stop looking at it long enough to play with it and get it on a page!!

This is a canvas I made using papers from the February kit and fun stuff from my Chick'n feathers, Chick'n noodles and Chick'n feed ... I had three pink clothespins, but wanted an orange one, so I grabbed my trusted orange Sharpie and coloured it!
Next a group of OLD pictures of Rachel at VBS in 2006. I love these pictures and I think they are fun on this page. Again papers from the February kit and Chick'n Stuff.
A few more old pictures of Rachel making Jell-O in Fort Morgan in 2006. Not sure if you can tell from the picture - but those chipboard alphas are sparkly and so pretty! The best part is that it is sealed sparkly so there are not sparkles all over the place!
Finally a page with pictures from last October. I used a ton of buttons from my Chick'n feed to make that arrow - I love how they mimic the circles on the Pink Paislee papers!
I am off to continue creating ... trust me when I say go check out the Two Chicks website! The Chick'n stuff comes in tons of colours and those fun containers are packed to the max with loads of fun things to play with!!! Also the March kit is up and it is full of the prettiest papers and embellishments!

And I will just say this once I promise - Go Canada Go - you rocked the podium in Vancouver. 14 Gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze - proud Canadian here!! And a must shout out to the USA for finishing at the top of the medal count with 37 medals - they have never been at the top of the medal count at the Winter Games!

xo Amy

You can't really have a silver lining with NO clouds

2010-02-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

So I am not supposed to be sitting in my living room right now - I am supposed to be chatting, snacking, laughing, and scrapbooking with Miss Amy right now. But I'm not... (insert 32 year old temper tantrum here) Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other not so comical plans for us. Just a little over 24 hours ago the weather guys were calling for winter weather for my drive down to OKC to meet up with Jason to enjoy a scrappy weekend in Midland. Didn't happen... not even a little bit...I am less than pleased that our weather was GORGEOUS today! At least give me a cloud or a few snowflakes!! In any case, it was decided I should stay here and plan another trip when they are closer. So I am throwing myself a little pity party for tonight. I will be over it in the morning (really I won't but I am going to try).

Instead of creating pretties all weekend with no crazies underfoot, I am sorting and purging my scrappy space. It's not really very fun. I had no idea how emotionally attached to my scrapbooking supplies I am. It is making it painful to sort through product to sell at a local scrapbook garage sale next weekend. And the tears from missing my friend aren't helping any either. But I am forging on because I need to earn some $$$ to help with the costs of the boys' baseball fees this spring. And I hear Dave Ramsey in my ear, reminding me that it is just stuff and I can always get more stuff.

How often do you purge your scrapbook space?

How do you decide what to keep and what goes?

Are you attached to your scrappy goodies the same way I am?

I will hold down the boy fort another weekend and look foward to the future - the 2 1/2 hours away from me future! YAY!

What is a Chick-A-Dee?

2010-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Growing up I had 2 great-Aunts on my Dad's side of the family. Since my Dad's parents were both gone before I could know them as grandparents - we called Dad's two aunts - Nini and Nome. Nome, like me, was the younger of 2 sisters - and we had a special bond. She was TOTALLY into birds and her favourite was the Chickadee ...

She had loads of birdfeeders and always stocked them with their favourite seeds - especially black oil sunflower seeds. I can clearly remember the familiar chick-a-dee-dee-dee call from these tiny birds. Nome thought Chick-A-Dees were so wonderful that when she saw this children's magazine - she got me a subscription ... I loved this magazine!!!

Yesterday when I was at Target (I know shocking that I was at Target) ... I found these ... how fun is that?!

So now that I have been chosen to join Jennifer on the Two Chicks Design Team I am a Chick-A-Dee. I think it is so awesome and it makes me fondly think of my Nome - who would be 106 if she were still with us. I think she would be happy that my love of scrapbooking has brought me to a place where I can BE a Chick-a-dee. With that said - I am off to create with the fabulous kit that Christie sent me this week!!

xo Amy

On my mind lately

2010-02-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

This post make me smile. It's my story too. It gives me hope. And we need lots of hope these days.

Two Chicks February Kit

2010-02-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

This was the perfect, eclectic kit for me! I was able to make a couple of Valentine's Day altered projects as well as my layouts and I still have goodies to spare! In fact, I have a page in the works on my table right now. :) The best thing about this month's kit is a little taste of custom Chick 'n Stuff!!! Lots of bits and baubles to add that special touch to your creations.
I love Valentine's Day and Easter pages because I get a reason to use lots of pinks on my pages and this was no exception. I loved that Kaden and Jackson were able to celebrate together at school last year! See that applique heart??? CHICK 'N FEATHERS BABY!!!!

Was I cute or what?!? I loved using this color combo to document my first spiral perm - ahhh, those were the days...

This next layout is brought to you by my Library of Memories storage binders. I took these snapshots of our little guys shortly after Kaden was born in 2005. I knew I would eventually get them on a layout and I found them quickly when I saw the colors of this kit. Gotta love circle punches for a super fast layout!

My final layout this month is a very simple 2 page spread of one of our weekends earlier this year. These are some of the only photos I took while we lived in temporary housing in the apartment in Fresno after we sold our house. More yummy Chick 'n Feathers and Chick 'n Feed added just the perfect amount of embellishment to this layout.Ah, the punches came out to play again - I picked up an inexpensive 5x7 black frame at the Dollar Store and used my little heart punch on my scraps to create this little bit of Valentine's Day decor. It was the perfect addition to my Valentine Buffet table.

So, if you don't have this kit - click as fast as you can over to Two Chicks to get it right now!

Where in the world is Amy now?

2010-02-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

Jennifer has reminded me (ever so sweetly) that I have not written on the blog in a long time. And that is very true so here is a post on what is going on in the vanderkooi neck of the woods ...

Jason has finally finished his 8 months of training for his new job. And with the end of that came the placement for the new job. As expected it is not in Midland - but unexpectedly it is not in Houston either. I had come to terms with the fact that I was going to Houston and was in fact getting ready to make the most of it. Then, while at Jennifer's house to celebrate Jackson's birthday and Christmas, Jason got THE call. And we found out the new job is in Oklahoma City ... a mere 2 hours and a bit from Jennifer. This could not have been better news for all of us and I was so very happy that we were at Jennifer's house when we got this news. Because they are as excited as we are about OKC!!! This means more time spent with our family of 8 ... more scrappy time together, birthdays together ... no more need for the video cam to do these things!!

And so we are getting ready to move to Oklahoma ... these three Canadians will now be Okies. I have made some good friends here in Midland, but I have to say I will not miss seeing that burnt orange colour everywhere I go!! Our house is officially on the market - essentially meaning it looks like nobody lives here. But Rachel and I are in fact living here and cleaning up more often that we are used to. There have been lots of showings but no offers so far. The weekends are nice because Jason comes home - and I get to listen to those wrestling giggles that are always present when those two are playing.

Jason has been getting the lay of the land in Edmond - where we will live once we sell this house and get a new one there. There are lots of choices in there and I am confident that we will find what we are looking for. It is nice to have more time to check out the city and the schools before actually buying - I have been looking at real estate listings and sending Jason out on scouting missions to check out the ones I like.

As for crafting - I have returned to the land of scrapbooking and I can honestly say that it was the Two Chicks Designs kits that did it for me! I started getting them in October and I have been creating with them and getting back into it. So much so that when the design team contest was posted I threw my scrappy hat in the ring. As Jennifer said - I was one of the successful designers and I am SO excited to be working with the great stuff that Christie (the chief Chick) has to offer!! If you head over there now you will find some awesome grab bags that are for sale - and when I say sale I mean BIG savings!

Well now you know where I am and be sure to check back with us as we have vowed to keep this blog up to date. For now I leave you with a few things I created for the Two Chicks design team contest.

First we had to create a 2 page layout of who we are ... I chose to do a a layout about what the different important people in my life call me ...

Next we were asked to create 6 cards ... since it was getting close to February - I chose to make some Valentines - here are 3 of the 6 I made ... and yes I actually remembered to use them!!

We were asked to make an altered project ... this is what I came up with. I used green embroidery floss to make my flower stems and used my punches, some buttons and cute patterned paper to make the flowers. The blessings chipboard word is from Maya Road and the birdies are from Jenni Bowlin (I think). This is hanging in Rachel's room and she loves it!

Our final project was to create a mini book that explained why we wanted to be a designer - and we had to use at least 25 different types of embellishments. It took me a bit to decide what I would do - but once that was done I had fun making this book which I titled "WHY I create" I had the many reasons I scrapbook.

That's all from me for now!
xo Amy

A full and Random Post

2010-02-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

First I want to congratulate my sweet friend on being chosen to join the new Design team at Two Chicks Designs!!! We are both Chick-a-Dee's!!! How fun is that???? And I get to hand-deliver some yummy goodies to her this weekend. I can't wait to see what she does with them!! The best thing is that it means we both get to create with new fun, products and that we have to post them here. YAY!!!!

Remember that frame? - yes, the one with the darling little girls playing make-up ;) Well, here she is now!!! I love it, love it, love it!!! I have been searching the Goodwill for a big, fancy frame for soooo long to make this and finally hit the jackpot last month. It is the perfect inspiration board for my rather eclectic craft room. {Ignore the boring paint color. That too is in the works.} But for now I will sit back and enjoy all the did-it-myself-shabby-chic goodness!!!

And when I wasn't painting, distressing, or stapling chicken wire on the frame last week, I was making stuff! Sweet pink and red Valentine's stuff!

First up, these great chocolate boxes gleaned from a tutorial at Jana Eubank's blog. I used a smaller sized box, but still loved the results with a bit smaller price tag. I think I made 8 total for all the teachers, assistants, nurses, and neighbors we love. This is the one I created for my brother and SIL on their first Valentine's Day as a married couple.

Next, is this fun little muffin tin project. Back in December, I saw this in the form of a 12 days of Christmas countdown. However, I didn't want to wait that long so I used up some scraps from my February Two Chicks Designs kit to make a gift for my mom and dad. We put a few candies in some of the spots along with handwritten love notes from each of us to my parents. I can't wait to make another one to leave hanging at our house. Maybe little pots of gold for St. Patty's Day?
I have sooooo many ideas that I want to try right now. My inspiration book is overflowing!!! I will post my other layouts and projects from the February Kit a little later this week.

Finish Line Scrapbooking

2010-02-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I love Stacy Julian and her Library of Memories photo system and simple story-telling scrapbook style. But I think one of my favorite ideas gleaned (is that spelled right?) from her is Finish Line Scrapbooking. I have created each of our Walk to Cure Diabetes books in this style and I think it is perfect for using lots of photos, making them shine, and best yet, creating a finished album QUICK! Last weekend I had to use up 50 free prints from Shutterfly so I ordered 49 photos (plus an extra) of Kenny's All Star season last summer. We spent a few moments in the the scrapbook store yesterday choosing 5 papers for his book. And I was good, really good, I only got the 5 papers! Progress for me ;) So while he is at a training camp for Tae Kwon Do today, I am going to finish line scrapbook his entire all star season! It will be a huge weight off my shoulders as I generally get overwhelmed by the abundance of photos we take during baseball season.

I have a couple of other scrappy projects churning around in my head as well as plans for this baby -

I have BIG plans for this project and I am very excited about it! Ken just shakes his head anymore when I come home with things like this. And don't mind the baskets and baskets of laundry that need to be dealt with... I am hoping they will clean, dry, fold, AND put themselves away while I am creating. A girl can dream, right?

Looking forward to a fun day of crafting mixed in with a bit of housekeeping to keep things lively around here. What are you working on?

xo, Jen

Oh Blog, we love you, really we do... and a kit peek too!

2010-01-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

We don't mean to neglect the ole blog... but what can I say? We are just so super busy with life stuff that it gets pushed to the end of the to do list everyday. I'm sure many of you can relate. So here we are in 2010! And Amy and I were most fortunate to be able to scrap together on the first days of the new year. It was fun and relaxing and like old times and I had to stop myself from tearing up many times sitting at her kitchen table because the boys would have laughed at me. They are kinda like that ;) I grabbed the December and new January Two Chicks to travel to Texas and had so much fun creating with all the goodies found in each. But January...can I just say I am in LOVE with this kit??? It is my favorite color schemes and packed with so many goodies. Gotta love it! I whipped these pages up in no time. This kit is very versatile and has lots of colors to mix and match. I found it was perfect for a year in review with Kenny. I even let him do his own journaling too. One of the Teresa Collins papers had this great Dr. Seuss quotation that was more than wonderful for Jackson's Kindergarten Dr. Seuss' Birthday party at school. He is just so darn cute, don't ya think?And a completely different look on this one - I LOVE double sided papers. These are photos from Natalie's wedding a few months ago and I love them. I had fun making this little paper pinwheel as a page accent too. So easy to customize with any paper line!
My other favorite newlywed couple was the inspiration for this page. They are such a sweet couple and Ken and I love to watch them love on each other!

So, lots of goodies in this kit! Head on over to Two Chicks Designs and get one before they are gone!

xo, Jen

The time is flying ...

2009-11-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

and so are the kicks and punches in Dallas. Yup Jennifer has given up another weekend of crafting in order to take her Tae Kwon Do superstars to another tournament. Seems it was worth the sacrifice since both Jack and Kenny were rocking the tournament - both taking medals in forms. Gold for Jackson in his division and Silver for Kenny in his division. They are awesome!!

As for me - I am here in Texas where there was some rocking sporting going on as well. Jason ran in the Race For Wishes fun run this morning. A 5K run to benefit Make a Wish Foundation. He came in under 26 minutes which is more than respectable for his very first 5K run!

I have been busy making things to be sent off to Canada but during breaks I was checking out my favourite blogs ... have to share this post from Stacy Julian. I love this idea and am going through pictures tonight while Jason and I watch a movie.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

It takes a village ...

2009-11-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

Every year the museum here in Midland has a Gingerbread village. They have all kinds of different houses from schools, families, Churches, Scout troops and groups like that. Well this year my friend is in charge of the village and she asked me to spread the word. I did the best I could and it will be exciting to see how many houses will be up when the display opens. I delivered 2 of them today.

The first one was made by my Wednesday night kids at Church. Since every year our Church puts on a big One Night in Bethlehem event, I thought it would be fun for the kids to make a Gingerbread version. When we met last week they made all the animals, the Shepherds, Wise-men and of course the 1st Family. I let everything dry and set and then put it all together. It turned out to be very cute ....
Since I grew up having a Gingerbread house every Christmas I thought this was a fun way to have one and share it as well. So I called up my friend and asked her if her 2 youngest (one Rachel's age and one who just turned 4) would like to join Rachel in creating a masterpiece. And they did. The 3 of them had fun decorating their house and are very proud of their creation. Sarah was much more into the aesthetic look of the house and was not all that happy when her little sister and Rachel were throwing items all over the place. In the end the three of them were pleased as punch and full of the treats meant for the house!

Here is how it turned out ...
I have been crafting away here getting ready for Secret Santa at A Peek Into Yesterday as well as getting ready to send gifts home to the family. I will have some pictures to share soon - but some have to be kept secret so no surprises are spoiled. In the meantime here are a few fun things you can try ...

A cute and quick gift for a coffee lover ... Treat Cup
Any kid would think this was fun ... Money Book
Rachel and I think these would be cool on our Christmas plates ... Yule Log

Happy Crafting!!

Hello Y'All ....Eh? ...

2009-11-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

Yup it's me ... the blog's Canadian living deep in Texas here. I know Jennifer has been doing a bang-up job keeping this blog going. But I am still here and I am crafting too ... just not taking too many pictures.

I am searching for fun projects. AND I have found one ... and I think Rachel and I might try this next weekend (this weekend we are making Jennifer's tree water colour). So there is no cute picture of Rachel showing off her cool creation - but there will be one soon. In the meantime go check out this super cute wreath project ...

Oh and I have done a bit of crafting ... check out these pictures from Rachel's 2nd grade program ... I helped paint the backdrops - there were 4 of them ... 3ftx10ft ... I also made the brown hat - it is a basket with seeds all over it. And the little girl that Rachel (wearing a green weed hat) is hanging onto is wearing a sewn and stuffed seed around her neck. OK so not major crafting - but the kids were into it!! The program was titled Parable Problems - He's got everything under control. Rachel's class did the parable of the Sower - hence the seeds and the weeds and there were flowers and birds too.

Kid Art

2009-11-07T15:06:00.001-08:00

It has bothered me for awhile that there is a GIANT lack of true art happening in our classrooms these days. I believe there are so many opportunities for learning through creating, but sadly that is not the case when it comes to testing and budgets and the list goes on and on. Kenny had an amazing art teacher in first grade back when we lived in Colorado and ever since then it has gone downhill. :( So instead of being frustrated anymore with the loss of art class in school and the lack of affordable art classes where we have lived, I have attempted to do "art" with the boys when I can. It was hard in CA, we had very little space to store supplies and we always felt like we were on top of each other, but not anymore! We have storage space and willing little boys to create.

I found this blog a few weeks ago and I have been amazed at the fun things this woman does with her kiddos. Fun and easy things!! I have a list a mile long of projects I want to do with the boys from her site. So this weekend we started. I loved this project so gathered up all our supplies and a new set of watercolors and went to town this morning. It was a great project for all 3 boys and that is really important in my book. I want them all to be involved. I LOVE how they turned out and the boys are so proud!!! Using painter's tape was perfect! It didn't stick or tear the paper at all when we pulled it off.

Perfect for even the little guys who LOVE to fill the entire background with colors.
Kenny preferred to use his pastels over the paints. A different look for sure, but he liked the way it turned out too.
They sprinted off after this picture to put them on their bedroom doors. I highly recommend this project! I'm thinking these could make great gifts for grandparents too. ;)

the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-11-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

Ever since Amy and I took Cut the Crazy out of Christmas at Big Picture Scrapbooking last year, I have been thinking more actively about this season of the year all year long. Does that make sense? I guess what I trying to portay is that it is never too early to start preparing for the season of Christmas in an effort to make the season more meaningful. So to do our crafty part, we will posting lots of fun ideas for you and for us for this season. Just a few moments ago I stumbled on a new, oh so wonderful, blog that is jam-packed with ideas for making fun and inexpensive gift ideas! And the best thing is, she is hosting a handmade gift guide for the holiday season. I will be spending lots of time pouring through her posts looking for fun ideas for my friends and family! You should join me ;) ;)

Halloween Crafties

2009-10-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I have been working with the November Two Chicks kit the past couple of days (more on that to come later), but I did have some time to make up some fun goodies for the staff members I have been assigned to this year at the big boys' schools. I know I am late to the pop tab altered can party, but I finally got a safe can opener so I could whip these up. So cheap and really easy to make - I filled them with mini chocolate bars for a sweet treat! These were all created with products from the October Kit at Two Chicks Designs. That kit just keeps going!

I am in charge of the craft activity for Jackson's party tomorrow afternoon and I wanted to have the kids make something really fun. And something they could actually use beyond Halloween. A few months ago I saw these bookmarks on a blog and decided they would be perfect for the kids to make at their party. And I have needed a reason to use this stamp set for, oh, 4 years, I think. Oops! We just won't mention that little fact to Ken. In any case, these little Stampin' Up Bug stamps finally got used and I think the kids will really like them. I pre-cut and stamped all the pieces so the kids will just have to glue everything together and add the eyes and brads. The glitter and the googly eyes are my favorite part!

Since the circles are simply attached with brads, you can put this part over the page to keep your place. How cute is that? Someone much more clever than me came up with this idea, but I had to steal it for my kiddos.

I know Amy has been crafting away with some fun Halloween goodies too so hopefully she can update us with her projects too. Thanks for looking and Happy Halloween!!

production line birthday cards

2009-10-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anybody is like me, but I am always rushing at the last minute to create a birthday card when the boys are heading out to a classmate or friends' party. I decided to embark on a journey to find a card that I can create with my mulitude of supplies and came up with the following "rules" for my creation.

Jen's Criteria for the perfect birthday card:

1. A style and design which is appropriate for friends and family of all ages.

2. A card I can create in an asssembly line style to make a whole bunch at one time.

3. Inexpensive to create.

4. Super Cute!

It has taken a long time but I think I have finally found it! Last week I whipped up 8 cards that are just waiting to adorn a special gift when needed. And I got a chance to play with some digital elements to create this hybrid card.

It was super simple and fun to create this card using digital kit by Sharon Carroll at A Peek Into Yesterday . I am not a digital scrapbooker but I LOVED this Bingo style kit from Sharon so I printed it out on white cardstock and simple adhered it to my kraft cardstock base. I also resized the circle element, printed and punched it out and added it to a metal rimmed tag. A fun brad and a little handwritten sentiment rounded out the production. Super simple and SOOO perfect for what I have been searching for. It is an inexpensive card I can create over and over again. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

A little time on the internet is not always wasted!

2009-10-14T09:05:00.001-07:00

OK ... so as Jennifer said we are going to be adding some fun ideas we find along our crafting travels. At the moment I am attempting to come up with some fun ideas for Teachers' gifts for Christmas. As I am surfing my regular crafty blogs I click links and arrive in places I never knew.

I came across this blog today - Angie is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and she has some seriously fun stuff on her blog. She also does some really fun video tutorial and I just had to share this one - because we are close to Halloween and these are TOO cute not to share ... seriously look at these ... they hold mini KitKat or Hershey bars - SO cute. Anyway Angie has an excellent video tutorial HERE - it is worth the 6 minutes to watch it - because how fun would it be to make these for some special Trick Or Treaters?!!! I do not know Angie - but she seems to be my kind of crafty person!!!

I am so into these that I want to start making some right now .... but I am still on the hunt for some crafty links to share with you - because that is the kind of crafty blog friend I am :) Also since my Halloween kit from Two Chicks is on its way here I am thinking there is some FUN paper in there that will be perfect to make some of these!

Stay tuned - let me waste the time on the internet so you do not have too - haha!

One is silver and the other gold...

2009-10-13T09:48:00.001-07:00

Do you remember those lines from the Girl Scout song? I have them constantly on my mind as we navigate life back in our hometown. I have had fun catching up with some friends from childhood and college days and my dear friend Christie is one of those "golden" friends. She and I met while we were both studying to be high school teachers in college. Neither of us thought middle school was the place for us, boy were we both wrong! I ended up in 8th grade and she ended up in gifted education at another local middle school. So funny how those things happen.

In any case, we had lost touch with all of my moves and one afternoon I realized she had "friended" me on my Facebook. I was all excited to catch up on her teaching days only to find out she had also left the education field to focus on other goals. So how much more excited was I to find out she is the "head chick" of Two Chicks Designs???? I mean, really? Scrapbooking!! I was soooo over-the-top excited to reconnect with her. And connect we did. And start a new kit club she did. And it's totally awesome! I love that she is a scrapbooker with no time to scrapbook and desires to put kits together for those of us that want to laugh, and crop and create pages for our albums that are unique and beautiful and easy to create. (Is that a run on or what??)

So let me be the first to introduce you to the Two Chicks Designs Kit Club. It is a kit jam-packed with yummy papers and embellishments picked out just for you by a fellow scrapbooker. And one of the things I love most is that for a couple of the cardstocks you get 2 of the same color. Yep! You can actually create 2 page layouts with these yummy kits! Without raiding your own stash! And there's more - 2 alphabets!!! Yes, 2 entire alphabets! For this alpha junkie that is BIG stuff. Here are some of the projects I made with the October kit that just keeps going and going with Halloween-y Goodness! Oh how I love the fall!

If you love Halloween or fall-related projects, this is the kit for you! Pick one up today! And tell them Jen sent ya! ;)

Girl Trap

2009-10-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

I need to get this down somewhere because it is sooooo going on a page about Jackson.

So here goes... Last night we were talking about how Jackson has a new seat in class next to one of his friends who happens to be a boy. He says very quietly, "now I'm outta the girl trap." I wasn't sure I heard him correctly but Ken asked him to repeat what he had said and he told us he used to sit between 2 girls in his previous desk and that was a "girl trap - a girl, a boy in the middle and another girl" I could barely drive I was laughing so hard! The girl trap.... baby you don't know the half of it...

SO how will I actually scrapbook this?
I have a plan to find a great picture of Jackson, maybe from some random event where I got a great photo of him to talk about some of his creative thoughts and personality traits. I will probably go to my category drawers as part of my Library of Memories system (thank you, Stacy Julian!) and find a fun shot of Jackson. I love that even without having a picture of the "girl trap" I can still record this silly idea from him! It would be awesome to find a picture of him between 2 girls, but I'm not sure a photo like that exists for us, LOL. Right now I have no idea how this page will turn out, but I know I won't remember just how he said it even a month from now. I try to keep little notebooks all over the place to just get it jotted down right away. It definitely helps this tired mom of 3 to remember all the crazy, sweet, and silly things they say! Stay tuned for the layout soon, I am definitely inspired by my little boy right now!
xo, Jen

We're back and we're SCRAPPY!!!

2009-10-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Did you think we had left the blogging world forever??? Well, we did too, or so it seemed, but then we (actually, just Jen) decided it was a nice place to show off our craftiness, make some new friends, and link up to all things scrappy, cute and crafty. And of course, Amy is always along for the ride! So with a new theme, we begin again... Some things have changed around here and some things will stay the same, but you can be assured that these 2 crafting friends are ready and willing to share our love for this industry.

You will NOT find:

Many posts related to our personal lives unless they overlap in our crafting world, if you would like to know what's going on with the hubbies and the kiddies, head on over to Facebook and friend us there. You can keep up with our daily lives more than you probably want to ;)

You will certainly not find any drama or favoritism. We love crafting from every angle, country, or local scrapbook store.

On the flip side, you WILL find:

Lots of our layouts and scrapbooking projects - if you can cut and glue it! We have it!

Tips and Tutorials we find around the web (or possibly even think up on our own - GASP!) for creating scrapbooking pages or projects

Quick gift ideas - in this poor economy we are always on the hunt for fun and cheap gift ideas we can use our products and tools for

Reviews of products, tools, kit clubs, web sites, etc... that interest us.

LOTS of links to anything CUTE!

So you can easily see that while our personal lives are still on vacation from the blog, our crafting, scrapbooking, tutorial-finding, link-loving selves are still here! We look forward to many more posts this year! For a tiny tease of what I (Jen) have been up to, here is a little looky-lou...

See you right back here VERY soon!

xo, Jen

Walk tomorrow

2009-06-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes here in Fresno. We are looking forward to a beautiful morning without too much heat which is very nice :) Please, if you haven't donated and feel led to, click on our link above and support Jackson. Donations are down and I am trying not to be discouraged, but it is hard. We have such a passion for finding a cure for our baby! Thanks to everyone who has already donated for this year's walk. We are so blessed by the kindnesses of our friends and family

xo, Jen

keeping track

2009-05-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am documenting what a weekend looks like in our life right now. I saw this idea over at Ali Edwards' blog yesterday and decided it would be a perfect way to show what our life is like right now in the apartment and to remember that no matter where we live, life is going on... a good thought for me as our life seems turned completely upside down. I am using this space to jot down things we did so far...
Friday Night
-spaghetti supper cooked in our apartment kitchen - yay for not having to eat out until we leave!
-Grizzlies Game with all the boys, dip n dots and garlic fries along with a yummy frozen margarita for mommy
-a little treat from the convienent store after the boys crashed into bed
-Started laundry

Saturday
-Still working on laundry
-straightened the apt, cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed
- Kenny off to Tae Kwon Do in the morning - not without a bit of arguing on his part
-McD's biscuit and diet coke for breakfast - sorry, can't help myself
-checking on facebook, message boards, and blogs while the boys went to pick Kenny up
-reading my newest Sookie Stackhouse book, finished it today too
-worked on teacher's gifts
-played with my 7 Gypsies photo carousel cards - love the little nature of this project and that it is totally doable here in the apt.
-Kaden took a bit of a nap afternoon being up most of last night - ugh!
-Ken played golf this afternoon, way too hot if you ask me (high today was...)
-took the boys down to the apt complex pool, very fun part of living here
-new Nerf game for the wii and playstation games too - gotta have lots to do when it's too hot to go outside other than to the pool
-Pizza for supper around the coffee table
-off to the Gap for shorts and tee's - feeling like summer has officially arrived even though school isn't out for a little bit longer
- Baskin Robbins for a cool treat - got an oldie but goodie, mint chocolate chip in a cone
-Ken playing wii while I type on the blog - hee hee!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
xo, Jen

2009 Walk to Cure Diabetes

2009-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! We are gearing up for this year's walk, our last in Fresno. (sniff, sniff) However, as this year's Walk Chair, I am excited for the direction the Fresno Walk is heading and I want to succeed in making this year's walk the best ever!!! We are teaming up with the Fresno Grizzlies to "Strike Out Diabetes" which is fitting for this baseball playing and loving family. As we do every year, Ken and I wrote a letter to share with our friends and family about our life with a child who has type 1 Diabetes. My challenge and hope is that everyone who reads this letter will click on the link and donate at least $10.00. It seems like we are pulled in every direction financially these days, but I truly believe that we all have a spare bill here and there. Ken and I save our change and random bills all year long just so that we can give a little to everyone we know is in need and the cool thing is, we never run out! God has always provided for us and for each friend, family member, and organization who is in need. Please prayerfully consider if there is anything you can do this year, Jackson NEEDS a cure. Period.

Note: Amy knows how to put a Mr. Linky at the top of the blog to click directly to our fundraising page and I will ask her to do that shortly. :)

Ok, off my little soapbox now, which I think is ok, seeing as this blog belongs half to me, LOL! Here is our letter, written from the hurting heart of this mama for her child.

Dearest friends and family,
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be on a roller coaster that you could never get off of? Forces bearing down on you from every direction, exhilaration at the top of a hill only to find yourself just seconds later plummeting to depths you couldn’t have even imagined. Finally, a break in the action… only to realize the ride is not only just begun, but will never end. In a nutshell, that is what it is like to live in a family where a child has Type 1 Diabetes.
Our son, Jackson has been courageously fighting this disease for more than 4 years now. As we passed that 4-year mark a few weeks ago, we realized that not much has changed in our life. It is an emotional and physical roller coaster of which we will never get off. Jackson wakes up every morning to finger pokes, insulin injections, highs and lows and everything in between. Diabetes goes to school with him where he must learn and grow as a student, all the while dealing with blood sugar issues. He goes to bed each night with the fear of dangerous highs that wreak havoc on his body and even more dangerous night time lows that could catapult him into a coma or even death. We turn around and do it all over again the next day and the day after that and so on… We wish somehow we could get off this ride, to simply take a break. With Diabetes there is no break. He is never going to “outgrow” his diabetes. Every decision we make regarding his care today has lasting implications for his health many years from now.
Jackson looks like any other 6 year-old who loves playing baseball, riding his bike, and learning to read. And yet, he fights the same fight every moment of his life. It would seem like it would get easier for him (and us!) to deal with it and in some ways it has. We have experienced tremendous joy in seeing the support of our friends and family as a result of Jackson’s diabetes. We have been able to educate and reach out to others who are also on this roller coaster ride with us. Jackson has touched teachers, friends, and countless others with his bravery and strength. We are blessed beyond measure to have the responsibility of raising this young man. His sweet face keeps us going in search of a cure for this horrible reality.
We come to you humbly this year to ask you for your support of our son. The past 12 months have been hard for our country and the financial impact has hit many we know personally. We even hesitated to ask for your support this year in the wake of the struggles we have watched over the past few months. However, I stumbled across this quote a few months ago and it really spoke to my heart in terms of raising money for this organization that desperately needs of our funds even in the midst of a global economic crisis. We are so close to so many breakthroughs in our search for the cure for this disease.

It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.
–Mother Teresa

It has always been our hope and desire to let you, our friends and family, have a glimpse into our daily life, not only to raise money, but also to raise awareness of the disease. We want you to know that whether you give $5 or $50 or even $500, we love you and appreciate every donation because we know it comes from your heart.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, JDRF, is the #1 non-profit funder of research aimed at FINDING A CURE for Jackson’s type of Diabetes. That is the reason we participate so fully in JDRF events, namely the Walk to Cure Diabetes. This year on June 6, 2009, Jack’s Pack will join with the Fresno Grizzlies and walk to support this amazing organization for the final time while we live here. If you are interested, here are the ways you can help make a difference for Jackson.
1. If you are local, you can join our family team, known as Jack’s Pack, which consists of family and friends who collect pledges and walk with us. We create a team t-shirt each year for every member of our team, young and old and have a great time celebrating Jackson’s life at the beautiful Woodward Park here in Fresno. Just give us a call and we will get you everything you need. We want this to be our biggest team of walkers yet!!!
2. You can support our family with a tax-deductible contribution in any amount. You can either make a donation online at www.walk.jdrf.org by entering Jack’s Pack and California under Support a Walker or mail donations directly to us. Please indicate in your comments if you would like our address.

Thank you in advance for helping us reach our goal of $8,000 this year. We are blessed by the generosity shown on Jackson’ behalf.

God Bless You!

Jack’s Pack Ken, Jennifer, Kenny, Jackson, and Kaden Allred

breathing new air

2009-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

into this blog look! Check back soon for all the fixin's!!

xo, Jen & Amy

Whirlwind Memories

2009-04-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend prompted a completely spur-of-the-moment trip up to San Francisco to see a Giants baseball game. It was on our list of must-do things while we lived in California and as the days here are drawing to a close, we really needed to get it done. Some sweet friends of ours were already going to the game so we followed behind as they gave us a wonderful, albeit superfast tour of the city. A drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, a trip down Lombard street, the game, Fisherman's Wharf and supper at Joe's Cable Car completed our memorable trip to this amazing city! I hope to go back sometime and ride a trolley, but we were so thankful we had a chance to take the boys to enjoy this historic place. Kenny just finished studying California state history so he got a chance to see all the places he has been learning about up there. SO COOL! I will leave you with a few photos of our weekend.

I heard that the Easter Bunny often shops at AT&T Park for basket treasures so we'll see....

xo, Jen

I want those chips!

2009-04-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

I've sat down so many times in the last 24 hours to write about these few days in our lives, but I have either been overcome in emotion or too weak in a nasty illness to get anything coherent together. Maybe today with a good night's rest and a healthy spirit I can make some sense of just how far we've come. 4 years ago this week Ken and I were faced with the most difficult diagnosis we could have ever imagined. Our sweet baby Jackson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the tender age of 27 months.

Fear crept in as we watched him try to sleep in the hospital bed those cold March nights. Fear for what his new life would bring to our family. Fear for the pain he would likely endure. Fear for his very life. In our fear, God held our hands as we poked his tiny fingers and gave every shot. With each day we gained strength and perspective. We came to realize the gift we had been given. I no longer fear for his life the way I did and I no longer fear that I won't be able to make it through the day. I am thankful to be out of this tight grip of fear. He endures much pain, Ken and I and the other boys endure much pain. We have a very different family life than most of our friends and I am still tired most days from the constancy of diabetes in our life. I wish we could have a break, even just for one day. It is not to be. And I am ok with it. Fear holds no power over me any longer.

I pray daily for diabetes to be completely removed from his body and I know God hears my prayers. For whatever His reasons are, Jackson has diabetes and right now it's the way God wants it to be. And I am ok with it too. I am reminded of Romans 8 on a daily basis. There are so many great nuggets of God's truth found there from dealing with our fear and for knowing that God does not see Jackson's diabetes as BAD. That is a human label. Only He knows what wonder can come from this disease and HE is working it in our lives and the lives of the people we encounter.

I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me yesterday in such a unique and made just for Jennifer way. Isn't it so cool how He works???? I haven't been feeling well, but I had planned out supper anyway. When I woke from a nap yesterday afternoon, I had a very distinct craving for Subway. I rarely crave food in this way, but I didn't really think much of it. So I called Ken and told him I thought he should pick up Subway sandwiches for supper after he dropped Kenny off at practice. All I could think about was those sandwiches... As we sat down to eat, I started to laugh and cry all at the same time. When Jackson was in the hospital he wasn't talking at all, but after the 2nd day he sat up when Ken and I were eating Subway some dear friends brought in for us and said as clear as day, "I want those chips!" (I rather unwillingly gave up my bag of Doritos...) I will never forget the joy I felt and still feel to this day that he was being healed and made well by our Father in heaven through a tiny vial of clear fluid. My tiny baby was going to be ok. And he is still ok - THRIVING even! I was thankful that the Holy Spirit spoke to me in terms I can understand. There was no question on how the Lord wanted me to view this week. Not to remember the pain and fear, but to remember the joy I felt in his return to wholeness, diabetes and all. And I am ok with it.

A Texas Spring Break Round-up

2009-03-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Since we flew to Canada for Mathew's wedding in February, we did not make our annual Spring break trek to Nova Scotia this year. Though Rachel was not happy about that - we had a lot of fun hanging out here in Midland.

Rachel and I went to see Coraline in 3D at the movie theater. It was a good movie, but it was a bit creepy and it scared her in parts - but she says she liked it. (on a 'not the best parenting choice' side - I did not know it was a Tim Burton movie, or I might have convinced her to see another movie)

The annual tradition of planting a vegetable garden will be continued this year! Rachel and Daddy went to get peas, corn, carrots, beans (yellow and green), cantaloupe and a tomato plant. They spent one afternoon preparing the garden spots and pots - and then planted everything. This is the 1st year for cantaloupe so that should be interesting. They were both happy about the tomato plant for me - I will be so into those fresh tomatoes!!

We took Daddy to the Olive Garden for lunch one day - Rachel's most favourite place to go eat. And apparently most of Midland feels the same way because it is usually too busy to get into eat in less that a 45 minute wait. Thankfully it was not busy because of Spring Break! Speaking of food, one place we went was very exciting for Rachel was our dinner at Mr Gatti's. There was a Schlumberger Spouses Association family gathering one night. Since this is one of Rachel's favourite places to go eat and play games, we all went. The dinner was not bad - I tried mac&cheese pizza - not a combo I would attempt to make myself! Rachel was out of her mind because she is finally tall enough to go on the bumper cars.

We got crafty together. We made this potty girl chalk board. Jennifer had mentioned seeing this stuff at Michael's so we went to check it out. We bought the hot pink chalk board paint and the yarn and this is what we came up with. Since Rachel LOVES to paint, she was happy we put 3 coats of paint on our girl.

We celebrated St Patrick's day - green clothing and lots of green food!!

Daddy took Rachel golfing one afternoon. They played the front 9 at the golf course and Rachel beat Daddy's score. He said she did very well, but that they really needed to work on her putting. She would hit off the T and then take her ball to where his landed and play from there. When I asked her about her game she told me that the golf cart was the best part - even if she did not get to drive. That's my girl - gotta love the golf cart!

By far the coolest thing we got to do over the break was at Monahans Sandhill's State Park here in Texas. We took the 50-ish mile drive, rented our sledding discs and spent part of the afternoon sledding down the sand dunes. Rachel thought it was fabulous! The sand was so soft and pretty - I could have played in it all day! So there you have it - a week full of fun family time. Rachel is excited that school starts on Monday - she misses her teacher and her classmates. The week seemed to fly by, but I guess that happens when you are having fun!

xo Amy

Top 'O the Evening to Ye Lads and Lassies ...

2009-03-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

I would say top o the morning but it is clearly no longer morning! We had a great and GREEN St Paddy's day today here in Texas. It all started at about 4am with Rachel coming into our room and asking if she could check to see if the Leprechauns had come to leave money in her green sugar. This is a tradition that we took up because of Jennifer and her kids. When I was telling Rachel about it yesterday she said to me "Mom Leprechauns are not real" to which I answered "Well last year they left 6 quarters for each of the boys at the Allred house". After that she could not get to making the green sugar fast enough. She was pleased as punch when she was finally allowed to go to the kitchen to check on the plate of sugar. You can see in the picture that she still looks half asleep - she did not even bother to get her glasses on! Thankfully it is Spring Break and so she did not have to go anywhere today.

We made a trip to Michael's to get a project that we will be working on tomorrow - she is very excited to make the "potty person" chalkboard. At least it is a project that will take more than 10 minutes and it is something she can use in her room. After we were done there we went to the play place at McDonald's so that she could run off some of her energy. She thought a picture at the bottom of the green slide would be perfect to show off her green attire today.

When we got home we set into making our green dinner. Green cake (note that Rachel applied the sprinkles), green pancakes, green sausages, green drinks and regular coloured spuds. Rachel was most impressed with her green mustache when she was finished her drink.

Happy St Patrick's Day from Texas! I am sure that Jennifer will have a green update soon too - but she has been crazy busy shuttling kiddos around to various sports and Church activities today!

xo Amy

In Full Swing

2009-03-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Little League baseball season is underway - here are the boys doing what they love to do best! Including our little guy, Kaden, he is definitely growing up and becoming more brave. Kenny has been busy in centerfield where he is pretty much the fastest kid on the field. And Jackson is the "big fish" of his team getting the chance to really show what he can do this year. He doesn't even have to hit off the tee very often because he hits most of the coach pitches. Lots of improvement all around. We are so proud of all the boys this weekend.

And we have to sunburns to prove it, LOL!

This is the theme of our next 6 weeks and I love it!

Now I am off to do their laundry...

xo, Jen

Jen's Update

2009-03-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Thought I would let you know about California happenings too. We have been super busy around here getting ready for our big move this summer to Wichita, KS where we grew up and Ken's company is headquartered, but I have been able to sneak in some scrappy time here and there. I am fully engrossed in the Library of Memories class with Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking right now and lovin' it! I spent an entire weekend working through the sorting process with all my printed photos and now I have 2006-2008 printed photos all nicely set up in my storage binders. YAY!

Kenny is wrestling for his elementary school and lovin' it some of the time. He is struggling a bit with a new sport (for pretty much the first time in his life), but it has been a good learning experience even if a bit hard at times. He was able to wrestle JV a couple of weeks ago and learned much from his first competition.

Kaden had to have minor surgery last week that really took a toll on me as a mommy. He has a really REALLY rough time with anesthesia and I wasn't prepared for how difficult that was going to be for me. He is healing slowly as it is hard to keep a little one down for longer than 30 seconds.
Jackson celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday in style this week as "thing 1" He had a fun getting all dressed up with blue hair and his fun red shirt. A kite borrowed from a good friend rounded out the ensemble. LOVE it!

So there you have it! Our house will hopefully go on the market in the next couple of weeks. We are praying for our potential buyer that God will lead them to our home very soon and it can be a smooth transition for all. I have been spending lots of time in God's word the past few weeks being reminded of all He has done for me and all He will continue to do. It has been good as my mind drifts in fear of our future right now. Please be in prayer over our family as we navigate this transition. The other night after a particularly hard day in dealing with our relocation, Ken and I looked out to find this in our front yard. A good reminder for me that God keeps His promises!

xo, Jen

Amy's Update ...

2009-03-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a busy while here in Texas! And we are finally at the end of some craziness! I think we will all be excited when Spring Break gets here at the end of next week. With all the medical testing and stuff that Rachel is going through - she is exhausted and I think she will be happy to have some jammie days with Mommy. I am thoroughly amazed at the difference in her since the beginning of February. Her teacher tells us that she can see it too - our girl is more alert and participating more in class. Good timing too since they took achievement tests all last week.

Cheer leading is over for the season - much to Rachel's delight. I think she liked it, but when I asked her if she would do it again next year this was her response ... "No! Mommy I have to cheer at basketball every Saturday - and I just like to relax on Saturday". All of the cheer squads got together and did a dance for the Upward closing banquet this past Tuesday. Rachel had missed 2 of the practices when we were in Toronto for Mathew's wedding and when we had to go see her doctor. Even though she was a little unsure of some of the steps - she did a great job. Here she is during the rehearsal - doing her most favourite step - the side kick! She was in the back - where she prefers to be!

I have finally scrapped a page!! Since Jennifer and I decided to step down from running Scrappin Mojo in December - I have been in a scrappy funk. BUT I BROKER FREE - sort of. I got 2 pages done last weekend. Here is my favourite one - I used a sketch from the Big Picture Scrapbooking class that I took from Cathy Zielski at the end of last year. I can't believe that these pictures are from 2006 - it does not seem that long ago! Rachel looks so tiny jumping into that pool.

I am taking another Big Picture Class with May Floam right now and there is an online social this weekend. I have some scrappy momentum and I am hoping to get some pages done this weekend too! I have to use some of my scrappy stash since Pat at A Peek Into Yesterday is getting all kinds of new stuff in at the store right now. Need to make room for some of those fun goodies!!

Have a great weekend!

xo Amy

RELIEF, THANKS and PRAISE

2009-02-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Rachel does not sleep through the night - ever. OK maybe once or twice but not very often. All those parents with those sweet little babies who sleep through the night - so jealous! Jennifer, my sister, other friends ... oh my kids sleep through the night - so sorry that Rachel does not. Grrr - although I am happy for them I sure wish Rachel would learn from their kiddos!!!

BUT it turns out that it is not all my fault that Rachel is the worst sleeper ever (although I will agree I have been a bit of an enabler). The doctors have finally listened to me and Rachel is now being seen by and allergy/lung specialist. Feb 2 we went to see him for the 1st time and after 6 hours of tests and exams - he diagnosed Rachel with asthma, sinus issues and allergies. A momma knows - I have felt that she had asthma but doctors kept saying "she is too young to be tested"; "she just has a cold"; "it is croupe".

Back to my sleeping God send!! Since Rachel has been being treated for this sinus infection (which the doc said she has had for a looong time) she is sleeping through the night .... EVERY night .... since Feb 3rd she has been up only twice. This is an unheard of run of full nights sleep for Jason, Rachel and I. You should see how clean my house is because of all my extra energy! Rachel's teacher says she can see a difference in her too - more rested and just feeling better overall - participating more in class, more active and more focused. We still have allergy testing to do and some more tests to get to the bottom of the "junky" lungs, but that damage could be from being born at 29 weeks or it could be from the untreated asthma. Well it could be anything, but they have ruled out lots of scary stuff this week! Whatever it is - we will deal with it!

Thanks to God we have found out what we have so far this month! I can see the difference in Rachel now that she is being treated properly for the asthma and the sinus stuff! YIPPEEEE. I am giddeee from all the sleep.

xo Amy

Library Of Memories Rocks

2009-02-19T23:40:00.000-08:00

Plain, Simple, Period.

I am purging, sorting, organizing, storing, and being inspired all at the same time!

I LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Y'all might remember that I bought and started Photo Freedom earlier this year, but I discovered I truly needed the class aspect of learning and implementing this system so I used my Christmas money this year to take this class. It is one of the best gifts a scrapbooker can give herself, or anyone who desires to scrapbook at some point in her life. I only wish I had organized this way BEFORE I started scrapbooking

It's a lot of work and a lot of time invested, but the payoff is going to be huge, I know it.

Sorry there is no picture to go with this post, but I am going to a crop tomorrow night and I hope to have lots of goodies to show you when I return.

xo, Jen

A "Green" Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T22:02:00.001-08:00

Kenny's teacher sent home a note requesting the kids make their Valentine collection containers from recycled products. We took this quite literally and started digging things out of the recyle bin this week. I think this is quite possibly the most fabulous Valentine box ever!

(Except maybe the one I made that looked like a robot... I vaguely remember LOTS of tin foil, LOL)

We had fun and saved a few things from the landfill while we were at it. It is covered with chewing gum boxes, sugar free drink tops, leftover packaging from a few gifts, junk mail, pop tabs, a few strategically placed smashed Christmas ribbons, and much, much more. One of the parents said, "now that is one fancy Valentine box." Kenny plans to use it for a treasure box as soon as all the candies and cards are gone. Honestly, I think he questioned my spirit of creating a few days ago, but now he absolutely loves it. He is such a special little boy and I love him so very much.

2 down, 1 to go

2009-02-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

We successfully celebrated Valentine's Day in Jackson's Kinder class and Kaden's preschool class this morning. It was full of lots of smiles, pizza, and of course, treats! The boys loved their balloons and their classmates did too.

How can you not smile seeing 50 beautiful balloons walk into the school?

Here are a couple of pics from both their parties.

xo, Jen

Lovely Preparations

2009-02-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day! Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I love all things red, chocolate and hearts so I am in my element in February. This week I have been creating lots (and I mean for 7 teachers!!) of sweet candy boxes and working on close to 50 valentine tags for the helium balloons our little boys will give out at their parties tomorrow. I LOVE IT! I tell ya! - it is so much fun to create with colors I rarely get to use in my projects. Here is a little taste of what I have been working on - much more to come tomorrow after their parties.

xo, Jen

California Happenings

2009-02-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

Lots going on around here, so much so that I can barely even catch up on blog posts, LOL! But I have a few spare moments while Kenny is at wrestling practice, Kaden is napping, and Jackson is playing wii. Ahhhh, the silence is a nice contrast to our normally loud and crazy home. Lots of random projects I have in the mix too. I made up my clipboard for LOM 2009 which starts on Thursday and I am over-the-top excited about it. I can't wait to start seeing all the photos I have taken and printed in a new and fresh light. It should spur on some really great creating, I hope anyway. There are lots of really great challenges at Peek this year and I am trying to complete them as I can. Usually not in the week they are do, but better late than never in this case. Here are a couple I did over the past few weeks.

The first is for the use your stash challenge and I really used some oldies but goodies on this one. Some of the product dates back to 2006, can you believe it?

This page was for the wrap up Christmas challenge to use traditional Christmas colors on your page, I even added the jingle bell that fell off Santa's coat on Christmas Eve. ;)
Finally, a little project I created a few months ago for our SuperMoms group at church. We were able to work on them a little bit last night and I think they would make great Valentine's gifts, especially if you are on a budget this year. The best thing about them is they are completely calorie free, LOL! I used a template and instructions I found via google to create these paper fortune cookies complete with a decorated take out box.Jackson earned his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do this past weekend too and we are so very proud of him. Photos coming soon, I promise! See you all real soon!

xo, Jen

Half-Way to 70 ...

2009-02-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

That is one of the birthday wishes that Jason got from a friend yesterday. His brother sent him a Facebook message that said "Only 30 years until Social Security Checks start coming".

Happy Birthday to my dear husband - 35 is not so bad. I just spent the last 9 months there and have had a great year! We celebrated the day with 2 basketball games that Rachel cheered at. Then Jason went golfing and had fun (although we won't ask his score). Rachel invited one of her classmates over to have a birthday party for Daddy.

Here they are helping him blow out his candles. They decorated this traditional cake for him - if there seems to be more sprinkles than cake that is because there is - they each had a bottle. I also made a delicious Chocolate Eclair cake that my friend Lisa posted about at Peek. If you are looking for a sweet treat THIS IS IT!

Sadly it is true --- I have to admit it --- I am indeed an Engineer!!

2009-02-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

It seems like it should have taken longer for Rachel to get to 100 days of school - but when you think she started in August it does make sense. Here in Texas the 1st grade classes celebrated 100 days on January 30th and they all made posters with 100 things of their choice. There were some very fun posters in the 1st grade hallway. Rachel chose to have 100 Love Hearts on her poster. Over several days we went through my box of scraps and punched out 100 hearts.

The engineer in me came out when she was putting the hearts on the poster. She did not care about straight lines, even spacing, colour patterns - nothing. It killed me to watch her put the hearts down on the poster board. But as Jennifer kept saying to me "It is HER project" so I kept my linear thinking comments to myself and ignored the anxiety her crooked lines were causing. She LOVED her completed project and was very every proud of herself. Here she is proudly displaying the poster wearing the t-shirt we made to mark 100 days.

The morning at school was spent sorting out 10 different piles of treats with 10 pieces of each treat. They also made Froot Loop necklaces to mark this momentous day. Mrs Fleming was very happy to see me show up to help hand out all the items.

10 year old love

2009-01-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

I thought a little post about Kenny was in order today. He has had a busy week!

Here are some of the highlights:

Last Saturday night we drove up to Stockton for a hockey game to see 5 of our former Falcons players and 2 of our coaches play for the first time since our team folded mid-season. This has been hard on Ken and the boys as hockey games were their special dad n' me time and they had really bonded in the last 2 years over their love of hockey. All the boys had a rough time seeing our guys in the "wrong jerseys" as Kenny put it, but by the end of the night and a new Stockton jersey given out by the promotions team to Kenny, we had a happier outlook. We could barely believe the guy put the jersey on Kenny when he thanked all the Fresno fans for coming out to support the Thunder team. He was able to get the jersey (and his Falcons jersey too) signed by the coaches and players after the game at a special Falcons Fans Meet n' Greet. It went a LONG way to healing his little heart. Here he is right after getting the jersey, I think he still didn't believe the guy gave it to him, LOL.

After the big hockey weekend, we finished up his History Day project for 4th grade. I am so proud of how hard he worked on this project to learn more about his topic and really make the project his own. His project was about James Naismith, the inventor of the game of Basketball. Kenny thought hard about his topic and chose someone that plays an important role in his life today. He said, "I like it that he made up a game a long time ago and I play it today at school." A big thanks to Grandma Brotton for all her help over the Christmas break too! He was not chosen as a winner for his school, but I loved his presentation board anyway.Finally, this week was report card week and school awards. Ken went over to the school to see Kenny earn his Principle's Honor Roll award for straight A's and excellent behavior.

He also lost yet another molar on the playground so the tooth fairy made a gold ribbon tied visit to our house this week too. We are so proud of our little boy! He is working hard in school, Tae Kwon Do, BreakOut and many other activities. Keep up the good work son!

Love, Mom

A time of Change ...

2009-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

What an historic day for the world we live in. African American Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Most of us watched this historic event on television ... but some got to be there and see it first hand. Jennifer's sister-in-law was there - how cool is that?!

With the swearing in of President Obama, George W Bush became former President Bush. After the inaugeration, he and Laura borded a helicopter which took them to Andrews Air Force base, where they borded an airplane and flew to Midland, Texas. This is where I come in. 8 years ago, Mr and Mrs Bush had a send-off in Midland so it seemed fitting that this would be the first stop on their way to being normal citizens again. There was a massive crowd gathered waiting for them to arrive and we were entertained by several bands and patriotic songs.

I do not know these people, but I was alone since Jason had to take Rachel home when she started getting sick, so they were my subjects. There were signs like this all over the place. Mr Bush talked about the museum in town - the George W Bush childhood home. He said when he heard about this he wonder why they did not name it the George H Bush home, that George W got to live in. And when he told his mom about it - she told him he better go clean up his room.

Mr Bush wanted to see the crowd so he had the pilot fly over the crowd - so cool.

I was not close to the stage so I only saw them on the large screen - but it was still neat to be part of this occasion. Laura looked relieved that she was almost done being the 1st lady!!

5 .. 6 .. 7 .. 8 ..

2009-01-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Upward Upward hear our wish ... all we want to hear is SWISH SWISH SWISH. Yup Rachel cheered for her first games this weekend. The first game was 1st and 2nd grade boys, the second game was 1st and 2nd grade girls. There are 7 girls on her cheer squad and they did a great job. Rachel got a star for "Best Effort". They did their cheers at half-time and then cheered on the side-lines through-out the game. They had little dances they did on the side-lines and they were SO CUTE! Rachel is on the left of this photo ...

She is so excited for cheer practice on Thursday and can't wait until her next game.

Drive By Posting

2009-01-07T20:01:00.001-08:00

Stop by Coordinates Collections this weekend for a little scrappy inspiration and a crop. They are loads of fun, lots of challenges, door prizes, and chatting. I guest designed for this site a few months ago and the kits are wonderful too. I plan to spend the entire weekend at my scrappy table catching up on all the inspiration in my head - YAY! Come on over and tell them Jen and Amy sent ya!

And check back here soon to see the great little mini album project Amy and I have been working on this week. You won't be disappointed!
xo, Jen

I love January!

2009-01-06T16:24:00.001-08:00

I love to organize and make things that are mundane look pretty so the beginning of every year is always fun for me. I love that there are inexpensive options for getting our lives uncluttered at every turn in most stores. Target didn't disappoint (as it rarely does) and I took up the challenge of the pre-schooler's closet yesterday. These yummy canvas bins will be perfect for all those little collections of toys we have accumulated. I plan to pick up a few more when they have the colors I want too. I get so excited to begin that I often forget to take before pictures of my organizing projects, but I didn't this time. I am over-the-top excited about our new toy system for the boys' toys now. YAY! Kaden is having a blast in his room and it's keeping the toys in one half of the house so that makes mommy VERY happy! So here ya go! I hope it inspires you to tackle a hard place in your house. Make sure you link back with pics if you have any fun organizing tips or ideas for me too. It's something I just can't resist, LOL!

Before:

After:

It makes me happy just to look at it!

xo, Jen

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

2008 was not the easiest year for either part of the vanderkooi/Allred family! There have been some big UPS and some big DOWNS. BUT we have made it through and are relatively unscathed! We both had wonderful Christmases - I am sure Jennifer will share some of the pictures from her parents' visit to Fresno soon! We are both still putting the finishing touches on our December daily books and will post them soon!

Last year both Jennifer and I made the Daily Blessings books. I was sure that there was no way I would keep up with this BUT I did and I managed to write in this book almost everyday in 2008. However as Jennifer said - it was hard and once you missed one or two days it was hard to get back on track. So this year we are going to change it up a little bit. Jennifer challenged the girls at Peek to participate in a weekly Blessings book. I think this one will be WAY easier to keep up with - and it will give me an opportunity (and some space) to write a little bit more when I feel like it!

There are some BIG things coming for our families in 2009!

We will both celebrate our 10th anniversaries this summer! We both have brothers getting married in 2009 - mine in February and Jennifer's in July. Some big moves planned this year - some already in the works, others are hopefully coming! My sister's eldest - Rebecca - will be 10 in a few weeks! Jennifer and I will be doing some FUN scrappy things this year - so stay tuned - the best is yet to come!!

Happy New Year - with wishes of health and happiness for all our friends and family!

Amy

Fancy Nancy comes to Texas

2008-12-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

Jennifer found the Fancy Nancy books and instantly thought of Rachel! So when she heard that we were going for Mommy/Rachel manicures today, she told me to open that present and read the book to Rachel. Well Rachel LOVED it ... and said:"Well mommy ... we are going for manicures today - that's fancy for nail painting" She is just too darn cute.

We headed over to the salon at about 9:45 this morning and Rachel sat up in the big chairs in the waiting room. Then Kate came and told us that she would be right with us. While we waited we chose our nail polish colours - Rachel chose a pretty (and sparkly) mauve and chose a sparkly reddish colour for me. The girls were all unable to get the bottle of polish for Rachel's nails open. They took it to one of the men having his haircut and asked him to open it. Rachel was so darn cute she had everyone wrapped around her little finger. I snapped this picture of Rachel and Kate - aren't they so cute?!

A fun afternoon

2008-12-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the last day of school for this calendar year and was an early release day so I wanted to do something special in the afternoon. I picked up this Gingerbread House kit so we sent to working on it together to surprise Daddy when he returned from Nebraska. It was a silly, sticky, and super fun project. I think Kaden ate more than he contributed to the house, but that's Kaden for you! I stressed a bit about the lack of any design qualities, but it all went away when Kenny said, "Mom, this is awesome!"

Here is our house and the proud builders:

This Year's Boots (part 2)

2008-12-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

So it's cold here in the central valley... I know, I know. Not like the rest of the country, but still cold enough and this flipflop-wearing girl needs something a little more substantial on her feet these days, even if it does cover up her much needed and loved pedicure from Saturday afternoon. So I have been bugging Ken for a few days (yes, just days b/c it doesn't take much to convince him of what I need) that I wanted UGG's for Christmas.

Yes, you read that right.

Those trendy and not all that attractive boots that are all around town.

On Tuesday night after calling every retailer in the city to find the one and only pair in the color, style and size I needed - my dear husband brought these home to me as an early Christmas gift. I am in boot/slipper/shoe heaven!

I honestly never want to take them off (ok, that's a stretch, but I did almost wear them to bed they are so cozy)

So. Big girls get new boots for Christmas too. ;)

xo, Jen

This Year's Boots

2008-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

The Christmas that Rachel was 3, my mother bought her cowboy boots. Rachel was insisted that they be purple. Who knew they had purple boots?? Well last year she had finally outgrown the purple boots and so my mom wanted to buy Rachel's new boots ... some may remember those - the 3 kinds of pink leather, the gem stones ... yes they were lovely - at least she is still little so they are cute!

Well we went out to buy this year's boots this past week - thanks mom! There were no discussions as to what the colour of this year's boots would be - please let her think brown SOMEDAY. We went to Wood's boots - and I have to say I am not sure that I have ever seen that many blingy things all together in one place! WOW. My spirits were lifted when Rachel took a look at a pair of brown boots - even with the embroidered flowers on the upper part of the boots - they were quite normal looking. But then she saw these ....

.... and let me tell you it was LOVE at first sight. We tried on one pair - too small, tried on the next - too big. And the size in the middle was nowhere to be found. She wandered around and looked at other boots, but her heart was set on the pink and white ones. All hail the sales clerk who took apart the store room to locate the perfect size for our girl. So here she is in the 2008 boots! Can you see the pink blingy belt there too?? Yup gems all around - she is SUCH a girl!

Also had to share this photo ... these houses are across the street from each other. Hopefully they are not too bitter in their rivalry ... only in Texas!!

xo Amy (if you are wondering where in the world my co-blogger is ... she is still Facebook-ing - go look her up - heehee)

12 Days of Christmas ...

2008-12-10T08:39:00.001-08:00

Did you know that there was more meaning behind this song than just the silly words? I learned something new yesterday and I thought I would share ...

I found the following explanation HERE and of course there is a disclaimer that says there is a controversy disputing the authenticity of this interpretation - but I like this one so I am sharing ...

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829 were prohibited by law to practice their faith either in public or private. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as a "catechism song" to help young Catholics learn the basics of their faith.

"True love" refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person.

The partridge in a pear tree is Christ Jesus upon the Cross.
The two turtle doves refers to the Old and New Testaments.
The three French hens stand for faith, hope and love—the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).
The four calling birds refers to the four gospels in the Bible — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The five golden rings represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The six geese a-laying is the six days of creation.
The seven swans a-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
The eight maids a milking reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.
The nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
The ten lords a-leaping represents the Ten Commandments
The eleven pipers piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles.
The twelve drummers drumming were the twelve points of belief expressed in the Apostles’ Creed: belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

Anyway I thought this was totally cool and wanted to share!

Have a great day
Amy

This is for you Jackson!!!

2008-12-08T09:43:00.001-08:00

How do you Follow ....

2008-12-06T22:32:00.000-08:00

a blog entry like that one from Jennifer???

You add some fun Christmas music - my friend sent me this link and I just LOVE these guys!!

While you are listening to that fun Christmas medley ... head on over to Scrappin Mojo and check out everything going on there. There are challenges, daily project prompts as well as a kick-butt guest design team contest. The January Sponsor ROCKS - so come on throw your layout/project into the ring!!

Dear Blog,

2008-12-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't forgotten you, I PROMISE. Really! I even gave you a new look this afternoon to show you just how important you are to me. I will try harder to at least check in here each day and see what you have been up to. You have been a great source of communication with the outside world this past year and I totally appreciate it. And Amy has been here the whole time keeping you company. She even wrote a post with all those great links. Lots of places to click.

What did you say?

Where have I been lately?

Well...Um...Awww....I can explain...

Look me up if you are there too ;)

xo, Jen

Guest Design Team Contest

2008-12-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

ScrappinMojo are kicking off our guest designer contest this month! And it's going to be a good one! Make sure you check out the rules and responsiblities associated with this contest before you apply. All the guidelines must be followed, no exceptions. If you are chosen as our first ever guest designer you will receive your goodies shortly after Christmas.

Now for the contest: With Thanksgiving just past us and lots of opportunities for family, friends, and fellowship in the month of December, here is your challenge - Use this quotation by W.S. Gilbert as the inspiration for your page - It's not so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs. The quotation is not required on your layout, however you can include it if you wish. We are super excited about this new aspect of our site and can't wait to see what you create!

Please upload you layout or project to our gallery and link it to the contest thread no later than December 20 midnight PST. We will announce our winner by December 25. GOOD LUCK - we hope that lots of you submit a layout for this!!!

All good things...

2008-11-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

must come to an end... I sure wish they didn't have to, but we had such a wonderful week in Anaheim with our favorite friends. We packed the week with all sorts of yummy surprises for the kids and once we get caught up we can unpack each wonderful day of our trip for you. For now, here is one of my favorite photos of our day at the beach.Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope your day was filled with yummy food and good conversation and fellowship! I know ours was and I am so thankful for the greatest friends God could have found for our family to share. I can't wait for the next trip!

xo, Jen

Scenic Route Sponsor at Scrappin' Mojo

2008-11-17T13:33:00.001-08:00

We were so fortunate to be sponsored by the incredible Scenic Route Scrapbooking company this month. They are my go to papers and embellishments so creating was a breeze for me. Here are a few of the projects I worked on for the DT reveal on Saturday. Head over to Scrappin' Mojo to see more. Amy also created an incredible little book that she will hopefully post here very soon ;)

I am totally in to making embellished tags at the moment - here are a few!

A little altered notebook for a friend of mine too.

Kindergarten Turkey Trot

2008-11-14T11:16:00.001-08:00

This morning Jackson's class participated in a Jog-A-Thon for Break the Barriers. They ran for 20 minutes and Mr. Jackson ran 17 laps. I was so very proud of him! His little cheeks were all red and shiny when he finished, but he never stopped going. Kaden even ran for part of the time too. He held his own with the Big Dogs, LOL! Here are a couple of pics from the day.

GO BOYS GO!!!!!!

Make sure to stop by Scrappin' Mojo tomorrow for our November Sponsor Reveal. We received some VERY yummy stuff to work with and I have been having lots of fun creating!!!
xo, Jen

My little witches ...

2008-11-02T11:27:00.001-08:00

Here is a pic of Rachel in her costume ... she was not into the green make-up, but she did look so cute!!!And here she is with Jennifer the cat. Jason said this was mean, but the cat did not seem to hate it too much! And Rachel thought it was cool to be dressed like the cat :)

Happy November

xo Amy

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T15:39:00.001-07:00

I will be spending my evening with a daring Indiana Jones, a super sweet skeleton, and a cuddly elephant. Yay! This is one of my favorite days of the year because it is just so darn fun! We will be heading out for Trunk Or Treat at our church in a little bit so I wanted to leave you with my 3 little cuties. (I'm sure Amy will be putting Miss Rachel up a little later too)

xo, Jen

4SS kit and closing

2008-10-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, Lisa has decided to close her doors after this month's kit release, but she is having a great blowout sale to end her time there. November's kit is amazing and she also has a fun surprise Christmas kit for sale. Head over there and send her out in style. Lisa, your site will be missed, but I hope to catch up with you somewhere in the future. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

xo, Jen

Be a Hero - Don't Do Drugs

2008-10-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yup it is that time of the year at Rachel's school again this year. The theme for anti-drug week is heroes. Today they were asked to dress up as their favourite super hero. Thanks to Jennifer Rachel looked great. You may remember that when we did the walk to cure diabetes in June, our shirts had a logo similar to the Incredibles one - only we had a J - for Jack's Pack. Well Rachel wore that shirt, a red skirt, black tights and boots and we made an incredible mask with paper. As you can see she looked pretty good. Also - since this is her Jack's Pack shirt ... she will be telling everyone who will listen all about Jack and why we do the JDRF walk - always good to spread the word about the Walk to Cure Diabetes!! Tomorrow is camouflage day, no 'theme' on Thursday and Friday is patriotic day.

Oh and last night was the annual ICK fest at our house - well OK Rachel and Jason refer to it as the most fun with vegetables. BUT I so do not like the smell or the feeling of pumpkin carving. I am there to photograph and ooh and ahh over the creations ONLY. I do not cut, scrape or remove any parts of the pumpkin. Anyway here is how they turned out this year - quite cute actually!

Have a great Tuesday!

- Amy

HSM3

2008-10-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ken and I took the boys yesterday afternoon - all 5 of us! Everyone had fun, Kaden fell asleep about midway through, but hey, he's only 3 afterall. Jackson sang along with the songs as we had the soundtrack added to the ipod last week. Loved it - every fun, sparkly, cheesy high school moment!

xo, Jen

High Red Belt ...

2008-10-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Kenny - good luck at your BLACK belt testing tonight! We are very proud of you! I am sure Jennifer will post pictures of the black belt testing as soon as she gets them home!!

Friday Morning Musings ....

2008-10-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

So I am sitting here, deleting spammers from the Scrappin Mojo. It is amazing to me how many we get in 24 hours. In the last month I have deleted Sarah Palin, Brad Pitt, George Clooney - just to name a few of the celebs who are hitting the spamming world - haha.

Anyway I am sitting here and drinking my water. I DO not like drinking water - I would go so far as to say I hate drinking water - well maybe not hate but I REALLY DISLIKE it!! Now if I am outside in the heat or I am doing physical activity - I can slug back water with the best of them. Otherwise I simply force myself to drink water - 'cause I know it is good for me - blah blah blah. It does not make it any easier to drink. Plus I like it ice cold so I am freezing when I drink it. I have tried drinking it without the ice because I hear the body is 'less shocked' by the warmer fluid. Yeah well less shocked or not - my body does not like tepid or even cool water. So while it is a beautiful fall day here I sit in a fleece jacket freezing from the inside out. Remember that I am in West Texas so the term 'fall' is a loose term for what the weather is actually like. Although it has started to cool down - it is still not the fall I am used to. Today I have all the windows and the back door open so I have some fresh air flowing through the house!!

I am getting ready for my scrappy filled weekend - yup that is me dancing in my chair. Don't forget to check out the Just Create crop - it starts at 4pm EST today. Yippee!

HAPPY FRIDAY friends!

xo Amy

I feel a Scrappy Weekend coming on ...

2008-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have had some weekend crop time. So this weekend I am really excited to be getting down to it. I have some of my Cathy Z Big Picture class assignments to work on - LOVING that class. I have made some totally fun pages - and yes my album is looking very cute - and come on isn't that really why we do this scrapping thing - because at the end of the day we have a really cute page/album/project/card ...

There is also a fun crop going on at Just Cre8. This is a Canadian kit club/store/forum that I found a few months back. It is fun to be part of a site that talks about what is going on back home. Also they have some awesome talent and lots of fun stuff going on. I saw the crop schedule and they have it packed with challenges, games, classes and projects. So fun!!

It won't be a total scrappy weekend though - Rachel's School is having their Fall Fun Festival friday night, we have a Halloween party to go to Saturday night and Rachel's choir sings at Church on Sunday. I figure I can fit those things into my scrappy plans :)

Finally in honour of Jennifer's birthday yesterday I baked a cake. Not for her just because of her - and let's face it - the cake would not have tasted too good when it got to Cali! So I made the Sweetwater cake and it was YUMMY. Now I have some fun treat food for my scrappy weekend.

A special kind of normal

2008-10-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

It was a normal average day with a few wonderful surprises built in. A mom's job doesn't end on her birthday, but the boys did their best to try to give me a few moments of special-ness.

Here is a run down of my day -

1. Wake up to Jackson with a high blood sugar of 444.
2. Make Kenny change out of winter clothes for this warm October day.
3. Counsel Kenny on making amends to a friend he hurt.
4. Drop Jackson off and apologize for his possible craziness.
5. Get gas at only $3.39/gallon at Costco (thought I was getting a steal until I talked to Natalie and she said gas is $2.49/gallon in Wichita today - ugh!)
6. Run to grocery store for a few baking goods to make the yummy Oatmeal Spice Cake from Sweetwater retreat
7. Go home and talk to Amy while I tidy up.
8. Upload sneak peeks of November projects for 4 Scrappy Sisters
9. Pick up Jackson from Kindergarten
10. Got bagels and cream cheese for lunch at Uncle Harry's
11. Picked Kenny up at 1:30 pm as it was a minimum day
12. Helped Jackson and Kenny with homework and played with Kaden
13. Baked cake and received package for Amy with adorable birthday gifts
14. Jackson off to soccer practice, loaded dishwasher, attempted to watch Oprah
15. Received edible arrangement from Ken
16. Made Chip Dip Chicken for supper and got to girl talk with my dear sister
17. Opened presents from Ken and boys (they really spoiled me)
18. Ate an early supper so boys could get ready for Tae Kwon Do
19. Dropped Kenny and Jackson off at Tae Kwon Do
20. Came home and cleaned up supper dishes
21. Played with Kaden.
22. Vacuumed out car in preparation for field trip tomorrow
23. Vacuumed bedrooms as Kaden ate candy corn Hershey kisses while I was vacuumming out car.
24. Played with Kaden. (do you see a theme here, LOL)
25. Listened to "Happy Birthday" song complete with Cha Cha's and enjoyed the cake with french vanilla whipped cream on top.

It was an ordinary day made extraordinary by those that I love! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

xo, Jen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER

2008-10-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

I know it is a bit late - but I just wanted to say I hope you had the happiest of days today my friend!!! Wish I was there to celebrate!!!

xo Amy

A "Croppy" weekend

2008-10-11T00:54:00.001-07:00

And that my friends, is a good thing, LOL! Many of the sites we frequent are hosting weekend and in one case, a week long online crop. So stop by...

4 Scrappy Sisters

Coordinates Collections

Crop Addict

I am hosting a couple of times during the weekend at 4SS so if you have a chance, come play with me. I am a little lonely in scrappy world this weekend, but I hope to really bust out some layouts. I have been working on DT stuff tonight that I just can't wait to share with you. It's like they are begging to be put up here. Alas, I will have to wait 'til later this week, but rest assured, the scrappy goodness will be flowing!!!

Until later today,

Jen

A little boy's dream come true

2008-10-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

A new friend of mine invited Kaden and I over to her home this morning for a "fire truck party" - in reality a fire safety lesson with an engine and 3 real life firemen. Did you know they will come out to your home and bring an engine and conduct a little safety lesson? All you have to do is ask. The boys got to dress in their costumes and hats and see the engine up close and personal. Kaden was a bit scared of the the men in gear, but it was a good experience for him to see them, just in case. He finally warmed up and let me sit him in the truck to snap a few pics. I know, I am shameless, all for the scrapbook. LOL! However, I did have a great conversation with one of the men about our own family and the things we can do to be prepared in the event our home catches on fire. Thank you to the men of Engine 14!!!

Today is the Day!!!

2008-10-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Jennifer is starting her acrylic class at Mojo today ... click here to check it out! Come on - join us - grab that clear album out of the basket, remove the plastic and get creating!

I know that Jennifer and Kaden are out on a "field trip" this morning - so I am SURE there will be some cute pictures posted here later!!!

Friday Night Lights .....

2008-10-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

So we went to a football game - yup a true Friday night football game in West Texas. It was homecoming at Rachel's school this week and we thought it would be fun to go to the game. A team from Amarillo was here to be the opponents and it was the first Varsity game played on the new artificial turf field that the school put in over the summer. But Rachel's school is not very big so we were not expecting a lot of stuff ... the band is small, the varsity cheer leading squad is not that large, and for a pre-K - 12th grade school - there are not really that many kids. Well I can't wait to go to a Friday night game with one of the big schools here - cause tonight was a pretty good show.

The teams run onto the field from their inflatable helmets - in school colours - with their mothers and father on either side of the entry. And yes the other team brought their own helmet with them. There is smoke, the small band is quite good and the cheerleaders are fun to watch. The team did very well and when we left at half time the score was 48 - 27 for us! We did end up winning the game - 61-33. That is a fun homecoming for those football kids! The funniest thing we saw was the Flag boy ... with every touchdown the Mustangs scored - he ran that giant Midland Mustangs flag down the field. His shirt said FLAG BOY on the front and "Run me 'till I puke" on the back. And he did an awful lot of running - especially in the 1st quarter!

But what got me tonight was the corsages - and I use that word LIGHTLY - that a lot of the kids were wearing. It is a Texas (maybe other places too) tradition to wear Mums as your corsage ... only they are no longer a traditional corsage - in fact the girls wear them on lanyards because they are so big! I googled them and found they can cost up to $200. They used to be given to you by your boyfriend or prom date - now you can get them from anyone who wants to give you one. And there is a HUGE competition over them. They are in school colours and have your school name, mascot, bears, animals, feather boas, your boyfriend/girlfriend's name, your #, mini footballs and helmets - you name it, they can put it on it. SO many kids had them on - even the boys - they wear them on their sleeve like a garter. You can buy the stuff to make them at Michael's - including ribbon with the school name and mascot - or you can order them from special "mum-stores". There are small ones for little kids all the way up to giant ones that would take you down if you leaned the wrong way!!

I found this picture on the internet and since this kid's mom already put her there I figured it was OK to re-post her here - the blog says they live in Houston ...

I kid you not some of the ones there tonight were bigger than this - with boas and bears and lots of dangling things - and lights - YES LIGHTS. They crowned the Homecoming queen tonight and her "mum" was gigantic and to use Rachel's words - 'all pretty and sparkly'. And here is another picture I found on the internet with a pic of boys and girls wearing theirs (the boy ones are called garters - if you want to be in the know)

I asked Jennifer if this was a tradition all over - and it seems like it is more a Texas tradition. Which seems fitting if you ask me - they seem to Texas-size everything here. My friend here made headbands for her 2 girls and made one for Rachel too. It was red, white and blue with a white flower and some beads on hanging ribbons. You can see the flower and the blue and red ribbon here ... the whole headband is covered. It is cute, and Rachel was very happy to wear it to the game - with her blue Homecoming 2008 t-shirt (which said True Blue Believers on it) and her red skirt - she loves the school colour thing! I truly have a girly girl!!

xo Amy

BIG fun at Scrappin Mojo

2008-10-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Since we took over ownership of Mojo with our friend Jan ... we have been having fun. And we have started to have some sponsors. Well yesterday we revealed our newest sponsor .... KI Memories. They sent us a ton of FABULOUS stuff to play with and to give away!!!

First we have our monthly contest over at Mojo ... all you need to do to enter is register at the site and make a page using at least 75% KI Memories products. Contest deadline is Oct 31 at 11:59pm PST. For the winner there is a great prize pack of yummy goodies like this ...

Second we have a contest going with our weekly challenges. For each weekly challenge you complete using KI products, we will enter your name into a drawing at the end of the month. Each week Jennifer, Jan and I will post a challenge and there will also be a weekly sketch challenge posted by a Mojo member. All 4 challenges are eligible for the KI challenge - and all you have to do is complete the challenge using KI somewhere on your page. How cool is that?? Chance of a prize just for doing pages you need to do anyway!! All pages will be due Oct 31st at 11:59 pm PST to be considered for this drawing. (challenges will be posted Sundays from Sept 28 - Oct 26th) The prize pack will be similar to the picture above.

Here are some peeks at a few of the things Jan, Jennifer and I have been working on with the KI goodies ...

From Jennifer -
From Jan -
From Amy - To see more - go check out this out!!!

ONE FINAL FUN THING happening over at Mojo ...
Starting Monday - Oct 6th, Jennifer will be guiding us through the world of clear albums. I am so excited to see all the tips and secrets she has gathered along her acrylic album journey. If you are interested in having a place where all your acrylic tips and tricks are living together in one place - this is a GREAT start! I can't wait! Check it all out at Mojo!!

XO Amy

Where did September Go?

2008-09-30T13:29:00.001-07:00

I realized that I hadn't put up my Guest Design Team for the month of September. After a long wait, I was able to get my hands on the GORGEOUS Madame Butterfly kit at Coordinates Collections It was totally worth it and I got to work with papers I normally wouldn't have picked up for myself. It was fun to stretch myself as a scrapbooker this month. I got 3 layouts - 1 Altered Project -

And 2 cards -

What a great kit!!!

xo Jennifer

I DID IT ...

2008-09-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

OK so Jennifer is an awesome scrapper and has designed on several DTs - in fact is currently designing for DTs. I keep saying I would like to be on a DT and Jen keeps saying - they can't pick you if you do not try. So I DID IT - I just submitted my application for the DT call at Scrap-tastic. Not sure if I will make it onto the team or not, but I put my application in.

And now ... did you see it ... did you watch it??? Grey's Anatomy is BACK! Well it was back for a great 2 hour season premiere. But the next episode will not be for 2 weeks. However I must say that the 2 hour episode on Thursday was so worth staying up until 1am! I put my trusty tape in the VCR at 7pm - set it to tape for the 2 hour show and then waited until it was 9pm PST so that Jennifer and I could watch our favourite show!

I also watched some other season premieres. The 1st episode of Survivor was 2 hours long and the location is beautiful! The show was not bad - a bit predictable, but still seeing those wild animals was worth watching! This is ERs last season, so I might catch an episode here or there - unless they continue to be as FREAKING sad as thursday night's episode. I won't post what happened in case you have not seen it - but fair warning - you will needs LOADS of tissues!! Dancing with the Stars started this week as well - and it has really changed since its first season. Some of the stars are awful again this season - but that is not my main issue. I am not all that into the costumes that barely cover some of the gals. CSI Miami was good on Monday - although now that I have seen the end of last year's cliff hanger, I can continue to watch re-runs on A&E.

Hope you are all having a good fall ... the weather is starting to cool down here - although I still feel that you should not be able to wear shorts and tank-tops at the end of September!

xo Amy

VERY true

2008-09-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

I just ordered this little pendant for the Halloween season - and seriously, those who know me well, know how giddy I get for my candy corn this time of year. And Hershey just came out with candy corn kisses that are equally wonderful. I had to hide the bag from the boys b/c this mama isn't sharing! The woman who makes these pendants is a fun little artist and I can't wait to get mine in the mail. Here is her link for those who may need to buy me a gift sometime soon ;) I am sure at least one of these speaks to you and would be happy to find a place around my neck. Plus, you are lucky in that you don't have to purchase a chain - I got that covered - LOL!
Allison Strine Designs

Double Digits

2008-09-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

This has been one crazy and busy day, but I couldn't end it without a little shout out to the birthday boy tonight - can you believe it? Kenny is 10!!! Next year he won't be able to say his age with his hands. AAAAAHHHHH!!! Where is the time going? He is growing into a handsome and wonderful young man. I wanted to treat him to something just a little special today so I came up with 10 bags filled with 10 things, each with a little note about life now or for the future. Here they are:
1. 10 balloons to remind you to soar high in all you do

2. 10 ninjas (from the machines at Savemart ;) ) to remind you to always stay a treasure man - he loves to collect little things

3. 10 Slim Jims (his new favorite snack) to remind you to keep trying new things - you may find you like them

4. 10 erasers to remind you that we all mess up, but God erases all our mistakes

5. 10 bouncy balls for your bouncy personality

6. 10 mechanical pencils to keep you on the road of learning

7. 10 cards for you and 10 cards to share (Pokemon cards meant to be shared with Jackson, this one didn't really go as I had planned....)

8. $10.00 to remind you that you are richly blessed

9. 10 hugs and kisses to remind you how much you are loved

10 10 candles to celebrate how you are growing in God's love and to remind you to let your light shine!

It was such a simple little gift, but he loved it and it was such a blessing for me to watch him open and think about each little bag of goodies.

Sponsor Product Reveal at Mojo

2008-09-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

It is September 1st already - WOW how did that happen? Anyway head on over to Scrappin Mojo to check out the design team project using products from Memories Complete. They sent us a ton of stuff to play with! Here are some things I did ...

Pretty sure that Nicci was looking for some different pictures when she bought these roses ... once Rachel realized she was not in trouble for pulling the petals of the roses, she went to town and pulled them apart by the handful. I love the increasing pleasure on her face as she destroys the roses. Sorry Nic I know you were going for something else there.

Then there were these pictures. Again poor Nicci was looking for some different pictures. She wanted Rachel to open the box and pull boas out of it to play with them. All Rachel could think was How do I get in that box without them noticing?? Eventually she realized that she would not fit with the lid on and settled for just sitting in there!

I just LOVE this picture of me and Jackson - he was so little and so NOT into getting his picture taken. Look at his sweet face!!

A few cards ...

Than I made this fun magnet ... I used one of the Memories Complete star sticker frames and cut the parts of the pic that did not fit inside. Rachel thinks it is a cute magnet but wants it on her door. Guess it is time for the magnetic properties of wood discussion - heehee.

Anyway hope you are all having a safe and happy Labour Day weekend. And when you get a chance pray for all those people in the path of the Hurricane. It has already devastated several countries and has now made landfall near New Orleans.

Hugs from Texas ... Amy