SERIOUSLY...

I don't even know where to start. Seriously. SO MUCH FUN!!! I really had the best scrappy weekend EVER! And I have to say that my man MATT totally ROCKS too! Friday on thru Sunday were just a whirlwind of FUN with Kristina. The girl rocks, HARD! Matt took excellent care of the kiddos while KC and I had a blast. If you EVER have a chance to take a http://soundsofscience.blogspot.com Kristina Contes class, drop everything and DO it! Plus I've totally gained a new friend who I'm LOVIN! :D Let's start at the beginning...

Friday, Peyton and I picked Kristina up at the airport and made a quick stop by Scrap-Masters so she could drop off her scrap-goodness. Her books are so yummy and I have to say I think that not only do her wonderful and WILD ideas come from her UBER cool creative mind, she uses rubber cement...enough said (read here: FUMES) :D Okay, on to my house for a meet and greet with my other kids, husband and zoo. Chester immediately fell in love, pictures of that will follow tomorrow and I must say the feeling is mutual although KC has a girl crush on Macy. After a jaunt to the hotel for a
quick check in we went back to the house for Peach Sangria and SMORE'S on a campfire...YUM!
Next morning, bright and early (yeah well I was a tad late but you know...) off to the store for the classes! OKAY, this was SO MUCH fun! SO much fun, yeah, I know I said that but GAWSH it was GREAT! And I met my girl VEE http://creativeblessing.blogspot.com/ who SO totally is incredibly awesome and beautiful AND she brought me a Heidi Swapp stamp I've been dying for. TOO COOL and check out her AMAZING work, she is VERY up and coming. Kristi is calm and relaxed and FUNNY while teaching and it rubs off on the students...I LOVED that. It showed everyone that scrapping should be FUN! I set next to a SUPER cool lady that I wanted to bring home and have her be my MOM! LOL (sorry Deb and Dawn, but she's GREAT)! The NEXT class was JUST as great and I really don't even know which book I like better. I'm totally in love with both and I keep looking at them over and over and over!

Last night we had a great dinner with David and Cathy at the CrackPot in Bel Air. Yummy food and I had 2 Blue Moons....again YUMMY! Sadly, this am. the girls and I drove KC back to the airport. Not only did I gain SUPERCOOL new ideas but also a new friend. Seriously.

More photos to come tomorrow, check back, K?

SPRING FLING

As I've mentioned a million other times, the LSS where I work is having it's first birthday bash this weekend AND I'm taking both Kristina Contes classes on Saturday. So needless to say, I'm looking forward to this weekend! I made (with a little bit of help from Peyton) these SUPER FUN SPRING pinwheels! I think the colors are so DELISH but that may have something to do with the pink and GREEN color scheme! (wink) I also get to meet Vee on Saturday! That's gonna be cool because I've been following her blog for so long now! COME ON SATURDAY!

Almost forgot to mention, yesterday was my 14th wedding anniversay. I forgot to say anything to Matt in the morning and he forgot as well. SO about 8:30 I called his cell (which is sort of a no no considering he's a 7th grade teacher) and when he picked up I just screamed Happy Anniversary. He didn't say anything and hung up. A second later my phone rang and I picked
it up and his entire class scream "Happy Anniversary" He's a dork! LOL

she's this and more...

Just some Callie lovin! Out of my three she's the most LEAST cooperative with photos so I'm SO happy whe let me take pictures of her a few weeks back. You are probably tired of seeing her but normally she's the least scrapped! She really is such a cool kid if I do say so myself. I am totally not kidding when I say she is an adult (a very wise adult) in an almost 11 year old body! She's always been that way!

Tweaked

This layout of Callie has been hidden in her room for a couple months. She didn't like it so she hid it from me! Sometimes the truth hurts, huh? :D Anyway I finally begged her to let me see it and I realized I didn't like a part of it either so this a.m. I tweaked it some and I like it so much better! That flower is one of the buttons from my mother in law...It's so FLIPPIN YUMMY! So 3-D!

freshhhhhh...

Okay, so I've been baking up a bunch of fresh layouts lately but haven't been posting them. I've kinda been tossing the idea of submitting around and sounds like you can't have them online much anymore. I'm tired of not posting and I don't know if I'm IN LOVE with this layout yet, I usually can't tell till the morning but here it is: sorry the colors are much different in real life but that's what happens when you photograph it at midnight on the dining room table! These paper are some of the new girl scout papers from K &Co. that SM just got in. If you read my blog at all (all 10 of you) you know that I LOVE pink and green...yummy! The pics not that grainy either in real life. Jeeezo I've picked this thing apart!

Speaking of Scrap-Masters, we got more delish stuff in and I'm dying for the AMY BUTLER scrap-pack we have...I LOVE IT! Apparently we are getting in the totes/purses too! We'll have all kinds of goodies for Saturday at the birthday bash! Fontwerks, Hambly Screen Prints, lots of K&Co. goodies, finally some scalloped Bazzill. I'm so excited about the Fontwerks and Hambly goodies...YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!

The view from my lap

This is the view from my lap everymorning...Chester squeezed in between me and the keyboard and the pub in the background!

And this....do you ever EVER feel like this? A lonely piece of cap'n crunch in a sea of CRUNCH BERRIES?

Science can be FUN!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my twins have been at an Environmental Camp all week with their class. They've never been away, so this has been an EXPERIENCE for all of us! :D Luckily it's very close and we go to this park to hike or play in the stream especially in the summer, so they are very familiar with it.

Last night was family night and the parents were invited to a campfire and the kids toured us around. They looked so tired! LOL But very happy. It was so good to see them and we are so very proud of them for staying! We were really afraid that they would be too homesick because they are NOT used to staying over anywhere but Grandmoms! Here are some cute pictures...

Snips and Snails...

I had a fun SMU (Scrap-Masters University) layout class last night and the ladies were GREAT! As always I had some strange looks from the class because I really don't measure much but...anyway! Some of the girls couldn't do their photos because the machine went down. :( So they asked me to post this layout here, the other one is already in the archives. In this layout I taught a cool photo pop technique. If you look closely, Chester is popping out of the layout! FUN!

Tonight we get to go to a CAMPFIRE and see the twins! I'm so excited! And they come home early tomorrow! YEAH. I know they've had fun but are missing home. We've had a couple phone calls from the teachers just to let us know they are homesick but we are SO proud that they've stuck it out! I'm hoping to get some fun pictures tonight!

kissy lips

Yesterday, the twins left for a 3 day "trip" with their classmates for a science immersion program. Luckily they are only about 15 minutes away but they've never been "AWAY". I knew if would be hard when they left but I can't really describe how it feels. I know this is SO awesome for them and such an incredible experience but I just worry about the little things, like is Cole going to remember chapstick (he has my dry lips) and will they wear sunscreen, etc. etc. etc. Okay, gotta stop before I get more sad.

In other news, <------I think Chester's lips are just beggin' for a big kiss here! :D

In other, other news...yesterday I was able to check out the Hambly that came in at Scrap-Masters, let me just say YUM! Awesome heavy weight papers and the transparency's are just LOVELY and the SMELL. OHHHH the smell, Vanilla! Vanilla, people it's just DELISH smelling! We are not going to have it put out until the birthday weekend, April 21, but I'm just DYING for some of this! And there are SUPER cool SILVER rubons that I'm just itching to use.

It's April!

It's spring but my goodness we had SNOW flurries on EASTER SUNDAY yesterday! The poor kids had to do their egg hunt in winter jackets and jeans! MAN, I want some warm weather! We had such a nice day, low stress and fun filled with lots of chocolate. Here's a layout I did super quick the other night. Not much to say but it sure was fun to just PLAY! I used Heidi Grace paper and cardstock stickers. I copied the little tiny bird and just made a paper piecing out of the cute papers that matched. Easy peasy and I'm lovin this bird. :D

Italian Beef and Garlic Mash

Oh shucks girls, thanks for the sweet compliments...

I got a similar recipe off of 2peas a while back and lost it then found it. Here it is with my modifications...

Here's the Italian beef

1 3.5 - 5 lb. RUMP roast
1 can of beef broth
1 can of french onion soup
2 packets of Italian dressing mix
1 16 oz. jar of pepperoncini (in vinegar) cut stems from pepperoncini and reserve liquid

Dump ALL except stems in the crock pot and cook 8- 12 hours on low. I then drain off the liquid and most of the peppers (my family can be wimpy, lol) and reserve the liquid. I then shred the meat in the crock pot and top with provolone or mozzarella and wait about 5 minutes. Serve on toasted onion rolls!

Garlic Mash potatoes
1 5lb bag of red potatoes washed and cubed but not skinned
3 oz cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
milk
"Oh so GARLIC" from Lizzies Kitchen (in the spice aisle) or Garlic Garlic! from tastefully simple
salt and pepper
1 cup of real shredded Parmesan

cook potatoes till tender. While they are cooking put about 1/2 cup milk and about 1 T of the garlic stuff, the cream cheese and the butter in the mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper till taste. Drain potatoes and add to mixing bowl. Beat till mixed then add the Parmesan and beat just till blended adding more milk if needed. Enjoy!

I got the original recipe for the parmesan mashed pots from Chef Mickey's in Disney world and the garlic is just icing on the cake! I don't even normally like garlic but a little here just gives them a great kick!

An unrelated picture because you HAVE to have a picture!

My new favorite photo place!

It was such a gorgeous day here today, like 74 with a nice breeze. The kids are off with spring break, I've got spicy italian beef in the crock pot and plans for garlic mash potatoes! The kids were semi cooperative for some photos (well Callie was VERY cooperative, which is NOT the norm) so I've had a GREAT day! LOL Here are a few from today...

I'm so excited!!!!!!!

*****This post has nothing to do with the picture, other than maybe the wings are a homemade, handrawn transparency 3D sorta thingy I made and that relates to HAMBLY...

Yesterday I ordered a small boatload of Hambly papers, rubons and overlays for Scrap-Masters! YEAHHHHHHH, now we are going to be a Hambly retailer! So happy! Can't wait to get it but it won't be unveiled at the store 'til the Birthday Bash with Kristina. Also, yesterday the entire collection of Jenni Bowlins AWESOME TASTIC new goodies that JUST debuted came in and was put on the floor! It shines in all it's yummy scrap glory! In other COOL news at Scrap-Masters...I placed a order today with Fontwerks for the store too! Papers, rubons and stamps...I even ordered the incredibly beautiful WING SET BY TIA BENNET! Sorry for the screaming but man I can't WAIT! I think we are one of the only stores in MD to have Fontwerks! :D

In other news, my husband sold his motorcycle last night. After being rear ended last month, he realized how easily you could SERIOUSLY be hurt on a bike. As much as I know he loved it, I have to say, I'm releaved!

Horses and Hambly...

A couple weeks ago, my father purchased our children a little 4 wheeler. Okay, before you get all postal on me, as far as 4wheelers go, it has some cool safety features like a remote turn off (on a little remote control my husband keeps on him) and speed control, etc. As a whole I'm a nervous nelly momma but, I grew up with all kinds of stuff like this, go carts and dune buggies and Sea-Do's so I want my kids to have the same kind of fun that I LOVED. Anyway yesterday we finally caught a few hours to take it over to my brothers farm about 5 minutes away to let the kids ride. Here are some cute pics...and C IS a little large for it, but oh well! Oh and there's one of C and Chester that I just LOVe!

OHHH and Kristina's albums are IN DA HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OHHH I'm so loving this HAMBLY in it! I can't wait to get my hands on my own. I'm just going to leave it at this:

KRISTINA'S MINI BOOKS ROCK!!! Totally enough said!

THE COOLEST THING...

Kristina Contes, Scrap-artist extraordinaire and 2007 HOF (go KRISTINA), is coming to little old Bel Air and is teaching 2 AWESOME mini book classes at Scrap-Masters! This is going to be too cool! I'm just a tad excited (times 50). I already signed up for both classes! LOL I can't wait for April 21, plus the store is having their birthday bash that weekend with all kinds of give aways and contests and a special birthday build a page! Oh yeah, btw, that's one of Aprils SMU (scrap-masters university) layouts. I'll be teaching this layout and another. It's basic grey, jenni bowlin, some heidi swapp stamps and embossing powder. We are going to DISTRESS your pictures too! cool huh? Plus I'll tell you how to de-saturate your photos to get this lovely washed effect above. In the other layout we are going to do a cool 3D photo pop effect. :D

St. Patty's day too much fun!

I almost forgot to post about St. Patty's day. Matt's band played at Looney's North. MY GOODNESS, and to think I wasn't going to even go! Wow! Good times, good times! The place was packed. PACKED. Like sardines packed. When we left at 4:00 in the AFTERNOON there was a line snaking around the building of people waiting to get in. Crashnelson rocked the house, of course and DANG is that drummer a HOTTIE! LOL :D

So here's Matt with some girls I work with. Yes, I'm comfortable enough to let him squeeze a couple chicks more than a few years younger than me! It was my idea, lol! And here is a cute pic of my neice, Kady getting some Chester lovin' yesterday at P's b-day party.

These are too much fun!

I'm totally in love we these tiny little hangers from my jbs kit this month! Aren't they cute!!! I copied Jenni's quotes 'cause I loved them! Papers are 7gypsies, Hudsun Valley. It's a yummy collection! Sorry for the bad photo, I had to take it at night and the flash and all.

In other cool news...KRISTINA CONTES IS COMING TO SCRAP-MASTERS. TOO COOL! She's going to be our guest artist for the birthday bash. I'll give you more details as I get them from Kristina. I'm giddy here!

Next build a page

EDIT: Since several of you have commented on the flowers I thought I'd tell you about them. First of all, in real life they match the blue in the tan, georgia clay and butter yellow brocade pattern that's a strip on the left. The flowers are cut with a cricut (both layouts) and then heat embossed with a tone on tone effect in a french script pattern (See-D stamp). The centers on this layout are kraft cardstock distressed with Orange marmalade distress inks by Tim Holtz.

I've finished the next build a page for Scrap-Masters. It's the companion page for the first one from 2 weeks ago. It's all 7gypsies Hudson Valley. I hope you like it and gosh it's a great deal at $6.00 a kit including the 6 x 6 photo!

My birthday girl and an act of kindness

I can't believe this little girl is 5! Almost feels like yesterday that I brought a pudgy little bundle home wrapped in pink with a sweet little eyelet bonnet atop her head. Now she's a sassy little sprite who cracks us up constantly with her silly and witty comments. Here are two recent ones:
*While discussing her love for "High School Musical" she dreamily said "I'm never going to have a boyfriend like Troy!"
*She recently asked me why I went to CCD (religious ed) with the twins. I told her that I was the teacher and she said with too much attitude, "What do you know about GOD?"

I hope your birthday is the best, little one!




I also want to tell you a little something about this girl down here. She is both of my daugher's awesome dance instructor and the creative genius behind a wonderful dance production every year. She has totally inspired C by believing in her and her abilities. She's been a total boost to her self-confidence.

And Peyton thinks the word COOL was written for Tracy! I want to share something that Tracy did yesterday that was just a little thing but a

huge thing at the same time. C has a dance class after P so during C's class P usually just amuses herself by singing and dancing. Well she made up a "new" dance move and after class she excitedly showed it to Ms. Tracy. Tracy said she loved it and maybe she's add it to a dance! I'm sure teachers have to say things like this all the time! Anyway, yesterday in class, Tracy added that little move to the dance! C and I just about died and it really made P so incredibly happy! She's such a neat lady to remember something like that and then make a little girl's day extra special! We are blessed to have people like this in our lives!

P.S. she's a darn good bartender too! :D

Glorious DAY!

Such a beautiful day here today. Yesterday too! I really wanted to take the kids to an old bridge yesterday to take their pictures. NO one was cooperative, I could have talked P into it but without the other two, I just didn't want to bother. Today, we decided she'd let me get some photos since it's so close to her b-day. Some turned out so cute! These were at the same house/gardens that my sister had her garden-reception for her wedding. Such a lovely old place!