master"PIECES" of my LIFE

happy birthday princess girl!

so...., birthday week is over (i know it's no longer a birthDAY).  lexi is officially 4 and she gets smarter & prettier by the minute.  i know i'm a bit biased, but c'mon look at that face.  she melts my heart so many times per day i can't keep count.  lets not kid ourselves she also has her less than desirable moments, but it's all part of the deal, right?  anyway her actual birthday, june 24th, landed on a tuesday which is our playgroup day so we hosted the fun at the park.  she loved the attention and played w/ her friends for hours.  we made cupcakes, which we talked about in the previous post, and i'm happy to say that we came home with NONE!  and that's a very good thing, as our friend martha would say (well she's not really my friend, but apparently she's not really anyone's friend so i really don't feel all that bad.....).

on wednesday, lexi brought treats to school to celebrate her birthday with all her honey bear classmates.  popsicles for everyone & she wore a pink crown all day.  i have a similar picture of sebastian as a honey bear w/ a blue crown when he turned 4 so i will have to scrap those side by side.  CUTE!  speaking of school, lexi has been a honey bear for two weeks now (she moved up when the summer session started) AND she's writing her name!  i'm so excited.  about a month or so ago she started drawing the faces & bodies i've been waiting for and now HER NAME!  she's totally got that fine motor skills going on & i'm so excited & proud for her.  it's so cool when it all clicks for them.  amazing how the human brain works.

and last but not least, we had the princess celebration on saturday for a few of her fellow princesses.  i had my friend's daughter & friend (megan & meg, i know, a tad confusing, but it works) help me pamper the princesses.  they made crowns & wands and after that there were manicures, pedicures, make overs & we were prepared to do hairstyling but that didn't seem to be of any interest anyone.  anyway, super cute and lexi LOVED it!  she so girly, I love it.  she wants me to paint her nails all the time and i love the lip gloss a la joker style from batman.  anyway,

happy birthday to you,

happy birthday to you,

happy birthday dear Alexandra,

happy birthday to you!

we love you baby girl!

life IS good

i LOVE this boy, but that goes without saying, right?  well, he just astounds me sometimes w/ the things that come out of his mouth.  lexi turns four tomorrow, which i'll go into further detail down below, so we baked some cupcakes today for playgroup tomorrow.  i allowed one cupcake for dessert, which both of my kids wanted w/o frosting, which is how i like it, which just makes me smile, you know, that whole apple doesn't fall far from the tree thing, but anyway, sebastian suddenly disappears into the family room.  immediately i become irate & ask him if he's eating in the family room & he better get back in the kitchen & eat it properly at the kitchen table, to which he replies, "naah, i just put it back, i don't want it".  to which in turn i reply (after i quickly count all the cupcakes to make sure he's not pulling a fast one, and he's not) "sebi are you sure, you don't want one?".  can you say perplexed?  AND he calmly replies, "no, it has sugar & it will make me hyper & i'll stay up too late & it will make me late for my first day of school tomorrow."  totally serious.  he doesn't even understand the complexity of what he just said, but he's totally sincere.  i gave him a huge kiss.  it's moments like this i need to remember when he's pushing every button possible.  and deep down inside i know he pushes these buttons 'cuz he's a smart boy & he's just testing, but when you're in the middle of the battlefield it's easy to forget.  if i had any doubt about enrolling sebi in the summer enrichment program, which i didn't & don't, this surely confirms it was the perfect choice.  he's clearly looking forward to it, 'cuz he's the kind of kid that enjoys learning & thrives on structure.  i took this picture of him on saturday at lexi's recital & it's the first shot w/ his new haircut.  not that you can really see his hair, but you sort of get the idea.  matt took him on thursday & we finally changed his haircut after almost 4 years to a shorter style & he immediately matured before our eyes & grew 5 inches.  amazing, huh?!?

now... to the girl of the hour:  lexi turns FOUR tomorrow.  that's right, june 24th, four years ago our family became complete.  i can't believe how time flies & she's really becoming quite a big girl.  it's very hard for me, 'cuz she's my little baby but she truly is growing faster than i can compute.  this week she moved up to the honey bear classroom at preschool & she transitioned w/o out skipping a beat.  she comes home singing the new songs she's learning and always hugs all her teachers goodbye.  besides being super sweet, she's just very,very poised & social in front of people and that probaly has something to do with the fact she just had her 2nd recital this past saturday before the age of 4.  tomorrow we will celebrate her birthday at playgroup w/ cupcakes & treats w/ some friends BUT saturday is the princess celebration where lexi & her friends will get manicures, pedicures, make-up & hairstyles.  i'll post pictures of all the festivities as they happen.  here's a picture from last saturday before her recital.  she danced & sang to "baby take a bow".  she was the only one on stage from her group that danced AND sang their routine.  ms. polly, her dance instuctor, was kind enough to burn the song on a cd for us & we've been playing it in the car for weeks.  the whole family knows it by heart & i leave you with this bunch of personality....

Happy Father's Day, Grandpa Mike

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

more fun stuff in the boutique!

memory works has done it again.  they just added this DaisyD's line to the online boutique & i'm loving it!  chloe marie, the name is perfect for the shabby vintage feel it evokes w/ a great color combination.  you can view all the details here.  it's so much fun to see all the new things added to the on-line boutique peridically.  it's done randomly & these items only remain while supplies last; once they are gone, they are gone for good with no reorders.  sooooooo, if something is a must have in your book let me know, unfortunately they are ALL must haves in my little world.  here are some more items:

if i only had 36-48 hrs in a day, i might be able to use my beautiful stash, but alas summer begins today and although the days do get longer, we always seem even busier.  i already have an idea for a summer layout with these beautiful colors.  can't wait to get to it................

new autumn leaves in the boutique!

here's a little glimpse of some new autumn leaves product lines in the memory works on-line boutique.  there are two different theme sets, fresh cut & manhattan.  how awesome, are these?  i hadn't seen a sneak peek of these anywhere, on-line, in mags, etc. & i'm super, pleasantly surprised.  i'm a big autumn leaves fan, specially, the foof-a-la line, and i was disappointed at the last product release, but now this makes me really happy.  for each theme set we carry patterned paper, ribbon, diecut panels & labels, chipboard flourishes and mini folders w/ labels.  you can see it all here.  I want it ALL!  how cute are those owls on the manhattan die cut panels?!!?  never thought i would join the owl camp, but here i am.  i'm also not partial to bright colors, i like softer more shabby colors, but i'm loving these vibrant flowers in the fresh cut collection. 

hope you enjoy this eye candy as much as i do.  if anyone is interested in placing an order simply e-mail me & i can hook you up.  just when i thought my stash had reached its limit.............

     

may workshop

for may's workshop we will be creating two 12x12 2-page layouts, using the same sketch, but changing the relationship between the patterned paper & card stock.  it's a simple concept, but interesting to see the different results it creates.  this can be done in many different ways, not just by interchanging the type of paper.  for example, the same layout can be created, but in one instance use buttons as your embellishment & in another use flowers.  the result will be very different but the creative work to develop the layout is the same, saving time and allowing for creativity to flow.

supplies:

• prism card stock ~ black
• dream street ~ remember the moments patterned paper theme set
• american crafts thicker jewelry box chipboard letters ~ black
• heidi swapp bling accents
• heidi swapp bling borders
• foam green card stock (my stash)
• Punches:  fiskars lace border, stampin up! photo corner, creative memories circle punches, ek success flower punch, mcgill tab punch
• original sizzix ~ flowers
• 7 gypsies preinked stamp

workshop will be help thursday, may 29th @ 7:30pm in my home.  if you are local & would like to participate please drop me an e-mail.

happy scrapping!

happy mother's day

life is good.  my family surprised me w/ breakfast in our backyard. 

good things:  sebi's penmanship on my mother's day card, matt's mimosas with domaine carneros champagne (edited: i mean sparkling wine, i've been corrected by my husband), lexi's sweet kisses ALL the time, the reliable phone call from my in-laws, mike & marina, who i love VERY much and the fact that i watched an entire movie in bed before this was presented to me!

this is my brood & it really doesn't get any better than this.  i am very happy & blessed to have the family i have i just wish i could share it w/ my mami........... one of these days............

birthday bash !!!

so we finally had sebastian's birthday party & it went rather well for our first big outdoor extragavanza at the new house.  yes, sebastian's birthday is january 31st, but we postponed the big fiesta 'til now for various reasons.  last year we were in uruguay for his 5th birthday and although we had a great little celebration with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. at the beach he really missed his party w/ all his buddies at home.  i had promised throughout the year we would have a big party for him when he turned 6 so as the good mother that i am i couldn't break his heart on this one.  BUT in january we had just laid down the new sod & there was no way we could have any sort of equipment on it or wild children trampling all over it.  the weather was also very uncooperative this winter with too much rain so it wouldn't have been an easy task anyway.  consequently, i struck a deal with sebi, the master negotiator, to postpone the big party a few months when the weather was better & he had a small sleepover around his birthDAY.  remember that fun time?  you can read about it here & more on his birthday here.  so after 38 transformer invitations were mailed & delivered we ended up with about 40 kids jumping and running and eating snow cones & cake.  good times!  the snow cones were a big hit, but the cake was truly a work of art.  my girlfriend jennifer hoffman is a pastry chef and she did not disappoint:

the kids thought it was the coolest thing, and it was.  this would be bumblebee from the movie transformers for those of you who only have girls in your life.  sebastian had the choice between optimus prime and bumblee and here you see his preference.  the movie is really worth seeing for those of you that have not had the privilege.  anyway,  i think the kids had fun & i would say our backyard has officially been broken in.  sebastian (in the middle in the white tee) is holding the bumblebee jennifer gave him.  it was her model to make the cake & sebastian could NOT wait to get his hands on it.  thank you jen!

happy 6th birthday sebastian AGIAN (and for the last time) !  we love you!

where does the time go?

i really meant to be a good blogger this month.  i started on the right foot.  then i turn around & like weeks have flown by.  anyway i want to post my april workshop information and it's the ONLY reason i'm posting an entry.  not good.  it's not from lack of content, 'cuz a think about a million things i want to write about, it's simply lack of time.  like all other aspects of my life, i need to time manage myself better & bring balance to all my different worlds (mother, wife, friend, consultant....).

anyway, back to the topic at hand.  this month i'm focusing my workshop on a minibook with a {love} theme.  voila~

supplies used:

7gypsies teeny weeny album

7gypsies {love} 97% complete stickers

autumn leaves red, black & cream patterned paper

autumn leaves journaling panel

7gypsies 97% complete card

autumn leaves twill red, black & cream ribbon

7gypsies ruby gem brad

autumn leaves for the record clear stamps

heidi swap clear stamps (damask, all my love, family, cherish, forever, treasure)

jenni bowlin border rubber stamp

stampin' up! rough edged mini alphabet

making memories magnetic date stamp

fontwerks henna red rubber mount stamps

7gypsies mini antique silver key

prima red & cream got flowers

that's all she wrote.................

ps. you can view all the inside pages of the mini {love} album in my "workshops" photo album on the right hand side.

butterfly sheer minibook

i made this minibook to document my daughter's 1st dance recital last year at the age of 2.  it was the cutest thing EVER!  this is a maya road sheer butterfly shaped album.  it came in my jenni bowlin march papercrafting kit ( i think it might have been part of the add-on kit, can't remember for sure) and since i've been wanting to make a {clear} album for awhile i thought i would give this a try.  the pages on this album are bit frosted not totally clear as in the acrylic albums, but it was a great 1st experience.  on a side note, i have a new initiative to utilize my jbs kits as soon as they arrive so this was part of that initiative.  so anyway, i used a bunch of different techniques with this minibook.  i covered the pages with pattern paper, alcohol inks, rub-ons, acrylic paint, paint dabbers on a butterfly mask (to keep the theme going), ink pads & krylon metallic markers.  i also considered stamping w/ staz-on ink but i wasn't sure how it would do with the frosted texture of the pages so i passed this time around.  plenty going on for my first experience.  the majority of the product i used on this was from my march kit & i added a few things from other jenni kits that complimented the design.  here are all the pages laid out, but i will post detailed pictures in my minibook photo album on the right.

this was really fun, but you have to design all the pages front to back, which takes some time & planning.  all in all i'm pretty satisfied how it turned out.  she truly was a tiny dancer.  maybe the tiniest at the recital, but she did great.  this year her recital takes place on june 21st, which is also the weekend of my memory works consultant retreat.  i was really sad to have to pull out but a mother has priorities.  it's the 1st consultant retreat memory works has organized & i'm sure it will be top notch like everything else they do.  i was really, really sad about it for awhile, but as i put this album together, i realized how lexi's dance recital is so worth anything else.  so this album was also theraputic for me.  funny how this hobby, passtime, addiction, lifestyle, whatever you want to call it always proves to be so much more.