Scrapbooking & Butterfly Nets

Lydia helped me organize all of the photos we took while at Disneyland last month and I now have all the supplies I need to make an album of our trip, thanks to Sarah. I was going to get a start on it tonight but instead I helped Lydia create a page in her scrapbook and she did a great job as you can see! This was all after she rode her big girl bike with mom to the Little Plover River Park (which is a couple of blocks away) to do some "fishing" with her butterfly net (dad does not fish, can you tell?). She didn't have any luck catching fish with her butterfly net so she called Uncle Matt for some fishing pointers when we got home.

Crafty Books to Inspire

I ordered these books this weekend and can't wait for them to arrive! They have received great reviews on Amazon.com and several blogs I follow. I will be sure to post the projects I make from these. So excited!

Birthday Girl

Zoe is twelve today. We celebrated with a nice supper, peanut butter pup cups, spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and presents. Happy Birthday Zoe! We love you! Zoe is wearing her fancy shmancy bandanna that I embroidered especially for her last year.

Trashed Office

This is my home office and no, I don't throw trash around if I am having a bad day. This is what my dogs do if I forget to shut my office door. I don't know for sure why they do this. My dogs are not puppies any longer, they are twelve years old. Scout has an attitude. I used to think it was him who was doing this to annoy me but one time after I had left the house and returned within a minute to grab something I had forgotten, I caught Zoe in the act of digging through my garbage can.

This is Zoe, she will be twelve tomorrow. Her dad makes her get this haircut every summer. She normally looks like this.

And this is Scout. These pictures of the dogs were taken on a vacation we took last summer to the Porcupine Mountains in Upper Michigan.

Creepy Crawly

How do you like our new sunglasses?

Well, we had to give these glasses back after the movie. When we were at Disneyland we went to the It's a Bugs Life 3D show. It was pretty creepy because bugs were flying right at our faces. There was also something under our seats that when activated felt like bugs were crawling over our legs!

Look Mom No Training Wheels!

Lydia and I went to a stamping class tonight and we each made 4 cards. She was so interested in what we were doing and had so much fun. I really enjoyed doing this with her because she enjoyed it so much. She is very proud of her cards too. She already has one written out for dad when he comes home from work tonight.

Lydia rode her bike on Sunday for the first time without training wheels. It was so cute and she was so proud. Two of our neighbors were over and after we were all watching her for quite awhile she got off of her bike, brought it close to us and asked who wanted to see her bike. We had all been "seeing" it for quite awhile and now we were all within 3 feet of her bike and could see it quite well but she wanted each of us to touch her bike. Shortly thereafter she asked (quite seriously) if any of us would like her autograph. So sweet!

Sparkly Card Swap

I am part of a monthly card swap. The theme for this month is "sparkle". For this card I was inspired by a card in the latest issue of Paper Crafts (page 54). You can download the template for the bird and flourish from the Paper Crafts web site. Ken, Lydia, and I are going for a bike ride now to deliver these and they are ready to go...

Family Time + Crafting Time = A Great Day

Today was a very nice day. We had a lot of family and crafting time. After a great sermon at church we had a nice brunch at Stone Crop Organics. If you live in the Plover area, I recommend it. The food is delicious. Today I also started and finished the baby blanket I blogged about here. I am happy with how it turned out. I would make another one of these. It's a good project for those of us who are beginner sewers.
I took a break after I had it cut out and we went to Emy J's for some coffee and a blue moon ice cream cone.
After Emy J's and some more visiting and hanging out around town we were back to crafting. Lydia had a lot (and I mean a lot) of fun breaking in our new Cuttlebug. She LOVES this thing.
and she created this beautiful hat.
Spring is upon us (although snow is expected tomorrow). Registration for the Cellcom Marathon is now open. The run is on May 18. I will be doing the 1/2 marathon. It should be a fun time. Several people from our church will be running this one and Dana will be running with me too. I need to take my running a little more seriously again and look into a training schedule to prepare for this half because the longest I have run since the marathon in October is probably 7 miles at one time. I am planning to do the Walk Wisconsin marathon on June 7 and I am considering another marathon in the fall.

What a Ride!

Front row (left to right): Lydia, Me
Second row: Ken

While at Disneyland we rode Space Mountain three times. It was our favorite ride with California Screamin' a close second. I am framing this picture and plan to hang it somewhere in our house because it captures how much fun this vacation was. The week we spent in California was wonderful and I hope to go back again next year.

I worked on a 7x7 scrapbook this evening for Lydia (that I started in the fall). It captures a sprinkling of the fun times and special moments we had together, starting off with her kindergarten graduation going through the summer and ending up with her first day of first grade. I just have some journaling left to do on a handful of pages. I would like to do more of these because Lydia absolutely loves to look at the albums I have made for her.

If things go as planned, I should be a busy crafter tomorrow. It is nearly April and so that means I need to finish my March block of the month and pick up the April Block. I would also like to get started on the baby blanket I mentioned a couple posts back because the baby shower is not far off now. While it was very nice to get away for a vacation, I am looking forward to getting back to my craft projects.

Greetings from Disneyland

We're in Huntington Beach right now having lunch. We are spending the day heading up Pacific Coast Hwy. We also plan to visit Universal Studios and Hollywood today after we stop at West Coast Choppers. Monday and Tuesday we spent at Disneyland. Tomorrow we will head back to California Adventure Park. We needed a day to rest our legs! Thanks for the comments on my blog. It is always nice to hear from you. We have had a hard time finding free WiFi so not sure when I'll be able to check in next. I have so many cool pictures, can't wait to share them.

Bugs, But Not Butterflies

The theme for the card swap this month is "Bugs, but not butterflies". This is what I came up with. I was inspired by my EYE - Bee - M (Rebus) screensaver (IBMers who have been around for awhile would know what I mean). I used a brown lunch sack as the base and slipped inside of this card is the following:
I was having crafting withdrawal so I had to make this card this morning before I did anything else. We are leaving for Disneyland tomorrow and I have lots to do to get ready before we leave, but crafting had to come first! Lydia also crafted with me this morning and made this tree which she requested be posted on the blog. :-) She is a blogger too.

Craft Withdrawal

I am having craft withdrawal!! I must craft soon! I have been putting in a lot of hours at work and more hours working equals less hours crafting unfortunately. Thankfully I have a VERY wonderful husband who keeps up with the laundry and the dishes.

I did get out this past Sunday after church and a much needed massage (ahhhhhh...a gift from that wonderful husband) to pick up this fabric for a baby blanket I am going to make for a friend who is expecting. The blanket is one of the projects in the bend-the-rules Sewing book by Amy Karol which I mentioned a couple posts back.
Lydia and I visited with my grandma today and we were given this bowl made by my aunt. My aunt is a very talented quilter and she has been using her scraps (I think) to make several of these bowls. I love the colors in this one (orange is my favorite color). Very cool bowl isn't it? I don't know how she sews these on her machine (the bowl is thick) and I hope to find out because I would like to make one of these.

2008 Point Bock Run

I came down with the flu on Thursday and this morning I had to finally come to terms with the fact that there was no way I was going to be able to run the Point Bock today. This was Ken's first organized run and I really didn't want him to miss this opportunity so Lydia and I went to cheer him on. I was miserable but it was definitely worth it to see him waving at me as he started and to see him cross the finish line. Congratulations Ken!


I snuck a picture of my Snowy Zoe Shnuggle Bear (Zoe for short) snoozing on the deck, soaking up some rays yesterday afternoon...

Clever Coasters

It was another crazy day at work today but I balanced it out with a really fast 5 mile run and some sewing. I could hardly wait to pull out my bend-the-rules sewing book by Amy Karol this evening. I bought it back in October when I was in Portland; Saw it on the shelf yesterday and decided to crack it open. I got inspired. After Lydia went to bed this evening I did the Clever Coasters project. We needed some for our bed-side tables. The project called for just two 5 and 1/2 inch pieces of fabric for a coaster but I wanted to use the leftover scraps from the quilt I made recently and I didn't have any pieces left that were that large so I got out my handy dandy calculator and came up with this design. The back of each coaster looks just like the front so I guess you could say they are reversible? The colors will go great in our bedroom. Going to try out my new coasters now. Until next time...happy crafting!

Block of the Month - Block 2

I spent the afternoon at the quilt shop. It was so nice to get out of the house for awhile to do some sewing. I finished Block of the Month #2 and when I finished with that I worked on this tote bag. The quilt shop was closing before I could finish but I was able to sneak in another hour this evening at home to finish it up. Lydia wanted to help so I asked her to model it for me. This is my first tote bag. It was easy to make. Thanks to Dawn for the pattern. Now that I know the basics of how to make these, I plan to play around with the pattern and make another with longer handles and a shorter body. This tote will be great for carrying books and craft projects when I am on the go. I try to take advantage of the free time I get like when I am waiting for Lydia while she is in dance class.

Valentine for a Friend

This is a valentine I made for a friend. Here is what is inside the bag... When you unwind the paper on the spool, you see...

The valentine was going to be delivered today but I did not know we were in for another huge blast of snow. We have more snow this year than we have gotten in a very long time. Ken tells me he thinks we got about 10 more inches today. He took this picture after he finished snowblowing the driveway. You can hardly see the snowman we made a few weeks ago because it's nearly buried up to it's neck.

The snow is up to the light post in our front yard!

And our mailbox is buried!

Happy 40th Birthday!

My husband has a Valentine's b-day. I think it's pretty neat to have one of those but quite honestly I always get jipped. My husband is one that doesn't multitask very well and therefore celebrating two different things on the same day is out of the question. So in the end, Lydia shares her chocolates with me.

Ken turned the big 4-0 today. He says he doesn't feel older. Interestingly enough to me, I do feel older. The fact that my husband is 40 makes me feel like I am not a kid anymore. We celebrated by going to the WheelHouse for some Pizza with my sister and her family. We are going to Cedar Creek Lodge for the day on Saturday to do some more celebrating and playing at the indoor water park.

So, the girlfriend I ran the Portland marathon with in October tells me she joined the Portland Fit to train for the Portland marathon again. Now she has me thinking I need to do another marathon. I had a feeling this would happen. The first one was just to prove to myself I could finish. The second one would be to confirm I really finished the first one because I still don't believe we did it.

Swimming in February in Wisconsin

My sister and I took our girls to the Wisconsin Dells last weekend for some fun at the Kalahari indoor waterpark. We live in Wisconsin so indoor is the best option this time of year unless you are a freak. Laurel, all of two years old, was brave and had no fear. I was probably the one most afraid on some of the slides I tried. It was nice to play and relax. As if I didn't have enough to do at work, I was offered a project that I could not pass up and it's in addition to my already full schedule thus the reason why I haven't posted in over a week. I feel like I have drain bamage from all the thinking. I would like to get to the quilt store this week to pick up the block of the month and I am looking forward to working on it soon.

Pink and Brown Card Swap Challenge

I have been playing around with that idea I got from Natalie for the pink and brown card swap this month.

The flower on this one needs a rhinestone but I don't have any at the moment.

My niece Laurel joined me for some crafting time yesterday. Look at that focus she has! She is an intense artist. :-)


Something unexpected and exciting happened to me today. It's always nice when that happens right? My friend Nina contacted me to invite me to go with her to see Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette tomorrow at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. To top it off, she has some great seats right by the stage. Her husband bought her the tickets for Christmas and now he can't go so I am the lucky duck who gets to go in his place. That is if the weather cooperates. We had a bunch of snow dumped on us again today and it's supposed to be pretty white in Milwaukee tomorrow so we aren't sure if the bands will be able to fly in or not. The event could be canceled. We shall see. At first I passed on the offer but when I told Ken about it he asked me if I was "getting old or something". I thought "shuuuuh" and I immediately called Nina and told her I was going. :-)

The Purple Scarf is Done!

This afternoon while we were waiting for my niece to arrive Lydia helped me finish up the fringe on her scarf. She was happy to receive it and even commented that it will go really well with her lavender coat (gee, who-da-thunk?) and I am glad to finally be done with it! I started the darn thing in September. In the meantime, Lydia recently mentioned to my grandma that she would like a pair of blue mittens to match the hat she had made her. A few days later grandma had the mittens knitted along with a very long scarf to match! :-)

This is one of the projects I made last night when I got together with the girls. Thanks to Natalie for bringing such a cool project. I love this design. It opens up like so...
Natalie is soooo talented. I love the work she does. Because of this project and another card she brought, I have some ideas swirling in my head for this month's pink and brown card swap. I also now want to get a Cuttlebug for embossing. I used Natalie's last night for this project and I love it. I have a Sizzix that I am going to sell on eBay.