(diva)logues

"I can see that you're a party animal... "

A new challenge has been posted on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  This month's theme is about animals, animal attraction, etc.  Use that theme for your title or simply use one of Nikki's many animal cut-outs on your project this month! 

No animals for us around here, but I did use a little Beatrice cut-out on my page inside my "a"... I thought it was cute next to the photo of Bryn with her new sock monkey... 

 

 

I love using pink & green for Christmas-related stuff, so I thought it might be fun to use the Beatrice line even though it has nothing to do with Christmas.  In order to make the page look more Christmasy, I used my snowflake punch & made my own tree.  I also added some pink bling from Want 2 Scrap & some SRM Christmas-themed stickers...

  

 

The bottom scalloped edges on my tree was cut from a little tag sticker included in the Beatrice line...

 

Play along for a chance to win some Nikki Sivils' products and post your projects here!

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!  Ours was packed full of celebrations!  And now it's REALLY time for me to get serious about getting some work accomplished before school is out.  Only 4 more days!  Accckk! 

SRM Stickers + Bazzill... a sweet combination

SRM Stickers is featuring projects created with Bazzill Basics products on their blog today through Wednesday.  Bazzill was very generous with the SRM Stickers team and recently sent us lots of fun patterned paper, cardstock & embellishments!

In addition to my Easter-themed SRM Stickers... I also used the Grandma's Kitchen paper pad, a fabric flower, several buttons & 2 adhesive pearls... 

 

 

 

I love the fun patterns & colors included in the Grandma's Kitchen paper pack.

 

Thank you again to Bazzill for your generosity!  We already knew you made fabulous cardstock, but it's fun to see all the cute embellishments available too!  The fabric flowers are definitely a new FAV! 

Check out the SRM Stickers blog for more inspiring ways to use these fun products! 

Eleven years...

 

It's Memorial Day weekend.  And tomorrow Bob & I will have been married for 11 years.  I can't believe it's been that long already.  Last year we celebrated 10 years in Chicago.  It was a fun weekend.  The plane ride there... not so much.  This year, however, we'll be at home hosting a little get together for Bob's sister & husband and his aunt & uncle, who will be coming in from out of town.  We'll be doing a little preplanning for our upcoming trip to Sonoma with them, as well as a little wine tasting... you know... to prepare for the trip to wine country.  Because we wouldn't normally have any wine around here...   

Here's just a couple birthday cards that I made recently, since I'm not the only one celebrating a birthday this month.  I'm just the only one celebrating for an extended period of time.  LOL  My friend's daughter has the same birthdate as me, so I celebrated with them all weekend.  It was a fun, fun weekend from beginning to end.  She turned 8, so I thought it would be cute to use one of Bryn's American Girl stickers & then embellished it with a little bling on their hair.  I finished it off with a SRM Birdie sentiment sticker...

 

... and another card for my friend Melanie, using the Nikki Sivils' Summer line + some more of my SRM Birdie stickers  ...

 

My birthday celebration continued with a fun lunch with more friends on Tuesday.  I do love being able to extend the celebration just a little bit longer.  My friends are so sweet... love them!

 

Some of you have commented about the tornadoes in our area.  Thankfully, we are fine.  Thank you for your concern, though... it means a lot to me.  We had tornado sirens on Wednesday, yet AGAIN, after just having them on Sunday evening.  I've lived in Missouri all my life and have never seen anything like this.  So many tornadoes have come through the area this year.  Wednesday's siren went off during the school day, around 3:15.  I was at home in the craft room, and didn't hear it myself.  Evidently, I really can tune out the rest of the world when I'm in my craft room... I don't hear a darn thing in there.  I knew it was a pretty bad storm outside, but that was all I knew.  I left to go get Bryn from school as I normally would and sat in the parent pickup lane waiting for school to end.  The mom who was parked in line in front of me quickly came out with her daughter, walked up to my window and said, "If you want your child you have to go inside & sign them out.  They won't release any of them while we're under a tornado watch."  I was like, "Huh?  There's a tornado watch?"  I'm sure she probably thought I was nuts.  So, I ran inside, had Bryn called to the office & we ran outside in the POURING down rain as fast as we could with no umbrella.  I drove us home & we went straight to the basement (ie. the craft room...LOL). 

As you know, Bryn is PETRIFIED of tornadoes & thunderstorms.  As soon as we got home, she ran into her room & filled her doll crib with every single baby in her room so she could take them to safety with us.  Once we got settled in the basement she told me that the principal had made an announcement on the intercom after the tornado siren sounded in the area, that everyone had to get into the hall & seek cover immediately. 

Bryn said, "I ran out there so fast I think I cut off a couple people, but I didn't care." 

I laughed SO hard & loud! 

She said, "What?  Why are you laughing?" 

I said, "Oh, sweetie, I just know how scared you are of these storms & I was just imagining how fast you ran out the door and fell to the floor of the hall."  

Then she told me the boy next to her kept yelling, "We're too young to die!"  Good grief.  Just what Bryn needed to hear.  

Needless to say she told me she thought I'd never get there... "she waited forever."  The rest of the students & faculty ended up at school until 5:30 that night before they were safely released... an hour & a half after the normal school ending time.  Thank goodness I do parent pickup every day.  I would've been a wreck waiting & wondering. 

As you all have probably heard by now, Joplin MO was hit REALLY hard.  You can read about the devastation and see many before & after photos here.  It's hard to believe just how destructive a tornado can be.  So awful. 

I feel very thankful to have my family with me and a roof over our heads right now, while many no longer have that.  

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend wherever you are...

Yep...

 

(credit)

A tweenager...

 

My almost 10-year old looks like an official tween with her new "do."  I barely recognized her when she walked out after getting her hair cut today.  She had a huge smile on her face, too. Which is good since I'm the one who talked her into getting bangs.  I said, "It's just hair.  It will grow if you don't like it.  But it's always good to change things up a bit, especially when it comes to your hair style."  Suffice it to say... she loves it.  I do too.     

Stop it.  Stop growing up so fast...

Forty three...

 

It's been 5 days since I last blogged... a record I think.  And I wasn't even out of town.  Just out of time, really.  But in the meantime I celebrated my birthday... #43.  It was a fun & memorable weekend.  I share my birthdate with my friend's daughter.  And she is a friend of Bryn's.  So we celebrated with her too, since quite frankly... turning 8 is WAY cooler than turning 43!  I had a total blast with my friends on Saturday night though and I'm still laughing just thinking about it.  It was a fun dinner & we had the best time dancing afterward. What a crazy night. 

My friends are the best.  So is my family.  Love them all...

 

Bob got me an iPhone 4 for my birthday.  It's even more addicting than my iPad.  Gotta love the Instagram app!

Is it just me, or is May as crazy of a month as December?

I think this very thought every year at this time.  In addition to all that we have going on around here, it's also the end of the school year... which means that I somehow get school party planning responsibilities on my shoulders as well.  I do it for Bryn, because she REALLY wants me there.  It's just that I have a lot going on right now, so laying awake at night thinking about the class party getting planned is the last thing I want on my mind.  I'd much rather just show up, watch & leave the job to someone else.  Really.  I would.   

Which brings me to a blog I enjoy reading.  I started reading  Stephanie's blog because she's a very talented scrapbooker.  But what brings me back every day is her ability to express herself through her writing.  She speaks with such honesty about being a mom & I can totally relate to much of what she says.  She has 4 very young daughters, 2 of which are twins & not even a year old yet.  In her post today she was talking about losing her patience or yelling or being sarcastic.  And how yesterday was a "scream in the pillow & want to drink a bottle of wine kind of day."  While I don't have a husband in the military who is away from home a lot, and I don't have 4 children... I can relate to having moments of temporary insanity.  I'd like to think we all can relate to that.  Whether we say it or not. 

Like yesterday for instance.  I was completely irritated to find out that I needed to get a class party organized by next Thursday, and for some strange reason had been under the assumption all year that I wasn't going to have to do that.  So as I'm sitting in the bathroom thinking about how irritated I was, Bryn barged in & yelled, "Hey Mama!"  It was a sweet, innocent thing on her part, but I yelled, "What?!" partially because of what I was thinking about just prior to that & partially because when I'm in the bathroom there's no knocking.  It's like Grand Central Station... may as well invite the neighbors in too!  Anyway, she just looked at me & said, "Are you mad?"  I said, "No.  I'm just annoyed about the class party."  She said, "Well don't be mad at me!"  I said, "I know.  I'm not mad at YOU, I just get frustrated when people just assume I can do something without asking first.  I'm sorry I yelled."  

Just one of the many, many conversations we have while I'm in the bathroom.  Although I guess someday I'll be missing that & wishing she was home to barge in on me.  LOL  Anyway, in reading Stephanie's blog I guess she makes me feel normal.  Like I'm not the only one who sometimes feels like I may lose my mind.  Or maybe I already have & I just haven't realized it yet?   

Lucky for me I have awesome friends.  And just having lunch with them & laughing my butt off makes everything ok.  Even school parties.  It will be get planned and in just a couple weeks, my 4th grader will be looking forward to her last year of elementary school in the fall.  The last year of school parties.  Definitely going to get her the American Girl doll stuff she wants for her birthday, too.  Maybe we can extend her youth & innocence just a little bit longer. ;-)      

 

More fun times ahead this weekend, which means MORE party pics with my friends!  Love them!

"I think I'm ready to leap, I'm ready to live, I'm ready to go..."

Some of the things going on around here lately:

... making birthday cards & celebrating birthdays...

 

... practicing the recorder...

 

... eating the first snowcone of the year...

 

... dining out...

 

... "pinning" things on Pinterest...

 

... listening to my music really loud with this fun birthday gift from my parents (like All of the Lights, recently added to my playlist)...

 

... shopping for cool tanks...

 

... enjoying occasional rainbows...

 

... and much, much more!

"I'm glad it's your birthday... happy birthday to you..."

Well, it's Monday... and also my sister's birthday which means that the celebrating continues on!  Looking forward to dinner at my parent's house tonight to celebrate.  She'll just be driving in from a weekend in Nashville, so we're keeping things tame tonight.  Which is good considering Bryn has school tomorrow!  And speaking of school, I added up how many more days are left for Bryn this morning & came up with 14.  She's looking forward to summer.  I am too.  Hopefully she's also looking forward to spending most mornings at the Y and to "crazy" lunches sometimes afterward... because really, she'll have no choice but to enjoy it!  LOL

In addition to having lots of fun over the weekend, working out, going to church & enjoying the yucky weather... (or not)... I also needed to make a handful of birthday cards to send out this week and managed to make this page just for fun.  I wanted to save one of the many, many notes I get from Bryn... along with some ridiculous photo booth pics from our recent "girls day out."  For some reason, she loves those booths.  I'm thinking it's the dorky poses we come up with while we're in there...

 

Anyway... the page is a mix of Echo Park, Bella Blvd, a SRM Stickers 8x8 calendar page, EAD Designs stickers, some Nikki Sivils & a few other odds + ends.  That green patterned paper was the last of my Playground paper kit.  So aside from some leftover stickers & journaling spots, I have now officially used the whole thing.  Boo. 

Have a great week! 

"Blame it on the goose, got you feelin loose... blame it on patron, got you in the zone..."

 

Love this free download here.

 

Love hanging out with crazy friends, too!

Hope  you're enjoying your weekend!

I ♥ Echo Park...

... but I think you already knew that.  ;-)

I've been in love with their products since they came onto the scrapbooking scene last year.  I love their fun, colorful, playful designs...totally my style... and I find it easy to get inspired while creating with them. 

 

While I've been creating with their products since their debut, I recently I won the adorable Playground line when I submitted a page I made using the For The Record line during their Facebook contest.  I love, love, love Playground.  I only have 1 sheet of paper left from the kit and some random scraps.  I've used almost every single bit of it.  Here's my most recent page about a DVD I helped make with my friends...

 

The little records on the top are actually cake toppers.  My ribbon-shaped paper underneath my DVD photo was cut to size from the cover sheet packaging included in the 12x12 Playground paper pack.  I used that same cover sheet to punch out a star on the right side of my page.  I'm telling you... I haven't wasted one bit of this package!  My journaling was printed from Word onto the polaroid print cut-out.  I covered up the heart with a punched star.

As for my film strip at the bottom of my page... here's a fun idea I learned from my friend, Jing-Jing!  Using a black piece of cardstock, I punched both sides of my strip of paper using my EK Success binding edge punch.  Don't throw away your long piece of left-over black cardstock though! 

 

Just adhere it on top of your binded edge and you have the look of a film strip once you add your photos!  Love it! 

 

I always try to make cards with my left-over scraps, when I finish creating scrapbook pages.  It leaves less to file away or throw in the recycle bin AND I end up with cards on hand when I need them! 

 

 

Here are a few more pages I made & posted recently using the Playground line...

 

Details here.

 

Details here.

 

Details here.

I've just ordered some pieces from the Summer line and currently have my eye on the Splash line as well.  So look for more Echo Park creations coming soon!  

Showered with love...

 

Just a quick post today with a card I made for the Nikki Sivil's blog on Mother's Day.  I made my card using the adorable It's Raining, It's Pouring line.  Love that little turtle in the rainboots.  I added some Glossy Accents again to my turtle... his eyes, belly & polka dots.  Love that stuff.

You can see more inspiring Mother's Day projects here.   Oh... and speaking of Nikki Sivils... she announced a little giveway today!  Check out the details here!

Off to Bryn's choir concert tonight!  Looking forward to hearing her sing after all of her early morning practices at school every Wednesday morning at 7:45am.

"Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit."

Well, I have to say... participating in the Mud Run was a blast! Our team (the Dirty Bits) kicked some major butt, finishing the 6.1 miles + about 25 obstacles in 2 hrs & 8 minutes. Considering we had some waiting time at many of the obstacles before we could get past them, I think that's pretty dang great! I posted 3 short video clips on Sunday. If you missed it, you can see them here.

This event was a total test of endurance, strength, teamwork & in some cases... mind over matter. I was lucky to have 4 amazing & strong women on my team with me... my sister & 3 friends. We all had so much fun together & laughed a lot. In addition to being part of this awesome team, I swear we had the BEST cheering section on the course. So many family & friends were there, cheering us on, taking photos & video and then cutting across the field to get to another obstacle before we arrived. We had many, many family & friends at home waiting to hear how we did & sending us notes of encouragement. It was the best day all around. And Bob took 95 photos that day. Love him. ;-)

The predicted weather all week for this day was scattered thunderstorms, but the day turned out to be perfectly BEAUTIFUL. We got so lucky! Our team's start time was 10am & we took off in the 2nd heat of that start time. We ran close to 2 miles before we got to our first obstacle... a mud pit. It appeared to be more of a big puddle & I went in first. I should say I dove in because when I stepped in it was deeper than I thought. I was up to my neck in mud & it splashed all over my face & head. The rest of the team looked at me & decided not to go in that way! LOL Talk about getting weighted down right off the bat! Everyone else was wet from the waist down & I was drenched! 

 
This wall of boards scared the living s&#@ out of me. Not so fond of heights. Not at all. Climbing up was bad enough, but then you had to swing your leg over & go back down the other side. If you fall, I guarantee you're leaving on a stretcher. I should've included a photo of the wall from a distance in my collage, but I'm adding a shot so you have a better view of how high it was. I got to the board 2nd from the top & froze.  I really wanted someone to come & carry me off of there.  I swear I'd do this whole event next week if I could just skip that one obstacle...

 

 

We had to crawl through a couple sewage tunnels to get to the other side of the road.  That was gross.  We were able to do everything though.  If you failed at something, it just meant you were getting muddier... or maybe in some cases you were leaving on a stretcher.  LOL  Thankfully that didn't happen though.    

 

We had another high obstacle to get over, but this time with the netting I wasn't quite as freaked out.  It still sucked though... oh yes it did.  So did the Gorilla Ropes.  LOL

 

Ok, well the "Leap of Faith" kinda sucked too.  In fact, I woke up that night thinking about it and couldn't go back to sleep because I kept replaying that obstacle over & over again in my mind.  Did I mention I don't like heights?  Try standing on a platform as high as a high diving board & jumping into water where you can't see the bottom.  I hesitated for a bit before I finally pulled my hat off & jumped to get it over with.   

 

Our last obstacle was a big slide into... yes... another mud pit!  We just weren't muddy enough yet.  Did you know that mud is a natural exfoliant?  Smooth skin baby! 

 

Unless we were in mud, we ran the whole way which helped with our time.  Although at one point I said, "Does this course never end?!"  We found the finish line finally though!  Thank goodness the fire department was there at the end to hose everyone off.  Thank goodness I had a change of clothes in the car.  In fact, I just changed in the parking lot while Bob held a towel in front of me.  Modesty had left the building by that point.  I was freezing after the fire department shower & needed dry clothes pronto. 

The whole thing was fun.  Really, really FUN.  If it ever comes to your city, you must do it.  It's for a great cause & it's a blast!  I'm really not the outdoorsy type & really don't enjoy getting dirty at all, but this was the best time.  It pushed us all to our limits... mentally & physically... but it was awesome.

Yay Dirty Bits! 

I'm having issues...

...with Typepad. But I can assure you that I'm alive and well. Will be posting about the Mud Run just as soon as I can get photos to load on here. So annoying...

Happy Mudder's Day...

Some quick video clips from yesterday's madness! Hope you're enjoying your Mother's Day! And ps... I don't know how to get rid of those nasty images at the end of my videos?! So let's just try to ignore those...ok?

I ♥ teachers...

 

It's Teacher Appreciation week.  In addition to contributing to the Teacher Appreciation Lunch at our school on Tuesday, I made a little something for Bryn's 4th grade teacher.  Bryn has loved her... so much, in fact, that she wrote in the card that she didn't want to go to 5th grade.  I told Bryn she'd have a teacher just as great as this one next year.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  My card was made using a combination of leftover school-themed product, along with some SRM teacher stickers... love these stickers for teacher cards!  We also gave her a gift certificate for the local frozen custard place.  Of course, I needed to get some for myself while we were there.  ;-)

Had a really fun Cinco de Mayo lunch yesterday with all the Zumba girls.  But since I have no photos to show from the occasion, I'll post a photo of Bryn & me at the same Mexican restaurant back in 2005 when she was 4 years old.  We still have the sombrero & I just might need to use it again soon...

 

... like next Friday night, for instance!  Ole! 

Have a great weekend everyone!  My weekend will begin tomorrow morning with the Mud Run for MS... running 6.1 miles with my team + an obstacle course... all while covered in mud.  Accck!   

Volleyball is life... or at least it was anyway...

Last night was our final night of volleyball for awhile... maybe for a long while, as Bryn seems to have lost interest in the sport.  To be perfectly honest I wish she'd keep at it.  I think she's improved SO much in the past year and could be really good with more practice.  But, right now it's not working for her and I'm not going to push it.  At this age, I think keeping yourself open to trying new things is good.  It's only in trying new things that we figure out what it is that makes us happy.  So this summer we'll look into doing gymnastics and I'll be registering her for a 1-week soccer camp that she's participated in for the past 4 summers as well.

Anyway... with the final night of volleyball looming & lots of SRM tubes on hand, I decided to make a little something for all the girls on Bryn's team.  I know Bryn's been into changing out her shoe laces lately, so I thought it might be fun to fill each tube with a pair of shoe laces.  I started with all of these that I found at Target.  I do love things in rainbow order...  

 

I used my SRM volleyball stickers along with a star punch, the Soiree line from Pink Paislee & some random ribbon I had in my stash to embellish my tubes...

 

I put it all together on Tuesday night while watching The Voice.  Not sure if I'm loving that show or not, but Dancing With The Stars was over & I wanted to pass the time with something I didn't actually have to sit & watch.

 

I love how the volleyball stickers fit perfectly on top of each tube...

 

 

Check out the SRM Stickers blog for more inspiring ways to use the SRM tubes.  The ideas are endless!

And now... I'm happy to say it's Thursday which means it's time for some dancing in Zumba!  And even better than that?  It's Cinco de Mayo... so I'm thinking we have some celebrating to do after class today. 

Adios muchachos!  :-)

And PS... Don't forget to check out the My Memories Suite Giveaway + the special coupon code!

Life is too short...

 

credit

Forever 21... times two...

One of my favorite places to find inexpensive trendy items is Forever 21's online site.  And "trendy" is the key.  I'll spend a lot of money on something that will stand the test of time, like a handbag, but if it's something I may only wear a couple times... then I may just go the inexpensive route.  And yes, I realize I'm far, far away from being 21 years old (ummm you can just double that number) but some of their things can work for someone, shall we say a bit older.  It just takes awhile to weed through it all.  Their website is constantly updated with new items and they have pages & pages of clothing and accessories.  I also pay attention to the fabric content, as noted on the website for each item I'm considering.  Some fabrics look cheaper than others, so I'll just pass on those.

I recently purchased 3 new maxi dresses for summer from them.  They are easy to throw on with sandals or flip flops, but can be just as easily dressed up for evenings.  All 3 dresses were less than $28...

 

 

I liked the last one so much, I bought one for my sister, too.  She will, however, have to let me know if she plans to wear it around me.  I refuse to be wearing the same dress at the same time.  We dress alike enough as it is!      

And Bob just ordered these snakeskin platforms for my upcoming birthday (per my request) from Victoria's Secret...

 

Come to mama!  ;-)

"Watchin' you watchin' me we go all out..."

In addition to celebrating Bob's birthday over the weekend, we also enjoyed a special day for granddaughter, Olivia, yesterday with her First Communion in Illinois.  She looked beautiful, as always, and even had a speaking part during the service...

 

Had a fantastic late lunch/early dinner at a local Mexican restaurant afterward.  I will definitely be returning and really wish it was closer to home.  Seafood molcajete... YUMMO.      

We ate some ice cream once we made it back home last night, studied for Bryn's spelling test & then Bryn watched the Karate Kid with Bob, while I made this page...

 

I used a 2nd print of the 4 of us & just cut us out as silhouettes to make the page a little more 3-dimensional by adding pop dots underneath.  Why conserve ink?  LOL...

 

The page is a mix of the Echo Park Playground line, a KI Memories calendar page, some record cut-outs from the old Nikki Sivils' Dan The Record Man line, a couple SRM sentiment stickers, and a few Crate chipboard stickers.  I thought the calendar page was appropriate for a background because if I could dance with those girls every day of the month, I would.  Plus... let's face it... the color worked.  LOL!  And for the record, I will clarify that the Zumba cut-out on the page is there because the four of us were wearing our Zumba gear that day... NOT because we were doing Zumba.  We were doing Latin Hip Hop.  Ahem...   

And one last thing!  Would you like the chance to be a guest designer for Nikki Sivils?  Check out all the details here!

It's Monday morning, so I'm off to my Spin class!