Your days cannot go wrong when they are filled with....

Hugs.
People told me that little boys were so lovely and affectionate.
This little boy gives the most amazing hugs to all of us everyday.
And not just one hug.
One hug is for losers.
He believes in dozens upon dozens of hugs throughout the day.
How can your day go wrong when you are being hugged like this.
Sometimes I can be stressed out and I will feel his little arms wrap around my legs.
It makes the stress melt away.
Sometimes I can be in a hurry and he will wrap his little arms around my neck and press his face close to mine making me stop whatever I am doing and relish the moment.
Suddenly I am not in such a hurry anymore.
Sometimes we can all be whirling around him going in different directions to do homework, cook dinner, practice the piano....
And he will stop us.
And he will hug us.
He makes everyday beautiful.



*The vintage cabinet cards are from the talented Danielle Thompson. Today they are on sale at Jessica Sprague for $1 for One Buck Wednesday.
Your collection of digiscrappin' goodness cannot be complete without an item from Danielle!

DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL Hybrid Mania!

First thing that is very important to mention....You don't have to scrapbook to partake of the goodness that is DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL.
This month we are working on hybrid projects. I have to say I was not too hip to what a hybrid project was before joining the team at DHD. I had done hybrid projects before but didn't even know that was what they were called!
It is sort of frightening and amazing at the same time some of the hybrid projects these women create!
Check out THIS ONE or THIS ONE.
Are those creative enough for you?
Some hybrid projects I have worked on are.....
This baptism announcement



I wanted to make a special announcement for her and because of the colors I immediately thought of Jen Allyson's Vanity Fair coral papers and frames. I love the way it looks like the little girl is peeking through a field of wild flowers on the left hand side!
I just created a 5X7 template in photoshop and then layered all of the writing and photos. I stroked the main photo with a color from the papers and added the lyrics to a song around the outside in smaller scrolled writing so as not to distract from the photo and information.


This is another fun spring hybrid project.....
"


How happy does Deena Rutter's HAPPIER elements and paper make me you ask?
Oh, maybe you didn't ask? But I will tell you anyway!
They make me so happy that when it came time to change up the mantle for spring I printed off the sweet birds and word bubbles, added fun spring messages in them and clothes pinned them to the wonderfully twisting branch that I have lying across the mantle.
Then I used some flower templates found by google searching "flower templates" and printed a bunch of flowers and centers, multi layered them and used the puffy squares to adhere them to one another to give them a 3D look and added those here and there.
I love my "Happier" spring mantle!


And how about using them on clothing.....






Last Friday was Art Night at my daughters school and I was put in charge of the kindergarten auction project. I cannot tell you the thought that I put into this....it was getting sort of crazy because I couldn't come up with anything that made me excited.
And then it hit me....T-SHIRT MANIA!!!!
*I had the kids do two handprint t-shirts (one girls and one boys with the teachers handprint on the back)
*Then I took a head shot of each child doing a smile and a crazy face and created a shirt with a collage of the kids and teacher on the front saying "Everything I need to know I learned in..." and on the back their crazy face collage and it says "Kindergarten!"
*The Boys drew monsters and bugs and the girls drew flowers and their faces which I then scanned in and resized laying them out as a collage and mounting them on Carina Gardner's "Oh Boy" The ABC's paper and "Pinfeathers Jumping Mushroom" paper for a little more oopmh!
One shirt says "We Are Not Scared of Monsters" the other shirt says "A Bug's Life"
and the girls shirts say "The Earth Laughs in Flowers" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."


Stop by DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL and see what clever hybrid projects you can come up with. And when you are done post them in the gallery!


And tomorrow there is a BLOG HOP that will be going on so if you stop in at DHD you can get this kit below for FREEEEEEEEEEE.

Busy Busy Bee

I've been juggling lots and lots of balls in the air as of late and so far they have stayed in the air!
I designed some really fun shirts with my daughters kindergarten class for our school Arts Night. The shirts were auctioned off on Friday night.
I have also taken on some spring photography clients which has been awesome!























I mean c'mon, seriously, could those kids be any more beautiful!? The little girl is one of the most hysterical children I have ever met. I had the pleasure of doing her pictures a few times years ago (B.B. before baby when my world was turned upside down and shaken like a crazy snowglobe!) and I am happy to say she is still the same crazy beautiful spitfire she was the last time I saw her!
And the little boy....yummy!
I haven't seen him since he had big squishable cheeks and no hair! His aunt is a wonderful photographer living in Indiana so I was quite honored to be able to take his pictures this time around.
How about those curls? I was dying!


And on a seperate note of importance do not forget to head over to DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL. They are continuing their Mad Mondays which include tons of great items on sale and one free item. See all todays specials RIGHT HERE.
More posts on my t-shirts and some fun hybrid projects with digial scrapbooking items to come!!

True Love

My son has a true love.
Normally he goes for the Cougars, the ones who will keep him in slices of bread and fistfuls of french fries.
And then he saw her.
Those cheeks.
Those eyes.
That pacifier.
That studious scowl.
And he fell.....he fell hard.

When you say her name he makes kissing noises.
He brings her toys.
He brings her treats.
He makes hats for her out of her snack bowls.....

If she wants to go outside he will find a way to make it happen....

He will find her a nice little cottage that they can settle down in together....

When she's hungry he will put on her hat and go to the store and get her food.....

He will toss a fistful of sand in her face and she will forgive him.
He will attempt to paint her hair with the crayola sidewalk paint brush and she will forgive him.
He will give her a shove and she will shove him back.
They will forgive each other.
And then they will get on the trampoline and jump.

The girls say that he will marry his true love.
Only time will tell.

An Easter Tale

It is 10:30 pm and I am waiting.
Waiting to make sure my children go to sleep so that I can fill their Easter baskets and hide them for tomorrow mornings basket hunt.
What's that? Oh, you are wondering if the children are awake because they are excited?
Oh no.....no, no no.
The children are awake because they are SCARED TO DEATH!
It has become somewhat of a well known fact that the children in my house fear anything of a magical/fanciful/gift giving nature that may or may not come in your house and leave you things.
This list includes:
LEPRACHAUNS
THE TOOTH FAIRY
THE EASTER BUNNY
CHRISTMAS ELVES
and of course the ever popular....SANTA CLAUS
Honestly people, I am at a loss.
I do not have any idea how this happened or why they can't just stop thinking about it and let the magic happen FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!
Now, I do have to say that it is a good thing that the children are wary of strange men/animals/winged creatures, intruding in our house.....but GEEZ!
They suck all of the fun out of every holiday for us.
It has gotten to the point where we have to leave Santa a note on the porch, with cookies and clementines for the reindeer, stating that he is to leave the presents on the porch and mom and dad will come out and get the presents and put them under the tree at a later time.
Then we have to make sure that the screen is locked, and the door too.
That still didn't stop Little One from being up until midnight this last Christmas, lying in the bed hysterically crying everytime she heard the slightest creak.
AND OUR HOUSE IS OLD, IT HAS A LOT OF CREAKS!!!
At one point I found myself mumbling like a crazy person under my breath that I would be so freaking happy when they realized that it was all a big story.
And the elves......oh my gosh don't even get me started on the elves.
That is a story that is better left for a whole blog post on its' own because lemme tell you it is classic.
So back to the list....Tooth Fairy is to leave the money in the kitchen by the door. Do not attempt to step one foot more in the house and don't even think about going near the pillow.
The tooth will be waiting for you by the door!
Leave your money and GET OUT.
So now onto the Easter Bunny.
As I am typing this I can hear my oldest daughter out in the family room telling her father that she swears she hears the bunny and she is worried.
HE ISN'T REAL....HE ISN'T REAL I want to scream!
Then I want to run out there with her Easter basket and all of contents and pour them at her feet and say "HERE IS YOUR STUFF.....I AM YOUR BUNNY!" At which point I will bounce around the room like a wild eyed lunatic.
But it won't help.
Because I did something similar to this when I had to screaming hysterical daughters fearful of Santa's Elves. Do you think that calmed them down to know that they did not have to fear the Elves?
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
That just made my oldest cry even harder that she was only person in her class who didn't have a real elf.
Are kids just smarter nowadays?
I don't remember ever being worried about these things.
I don't remember thinking for one second that these "people" didn't exsist.
They were as real to me as the planets and people in Star Wars were.
The people that invented all of these things is on my list.
And all I can say is that I hope that the girls little brother is a little more inviting to these holiday/childhood things.
Otherwise we're screwed!
Happy Easter everybody!


(And thanks to my lovely Vanessa for the beautiful flowers. They smell amazing and they make me smile)

Goodbye March.....Hello April

This morning I woke up to a winter wonderland!
It almost made up for this winter being so lame.
I said almost.
So it's time to say goodbye to March.....


(left to right: 1)"look I can take off my shirt" 2)stomach flu recovery 3)the light breaks through 4)the Irish twins 5)thank goodness for the Gramps taxi service 6)family board games 7)ELVIS 8)Barbie Karate Class 9)Handsome 10)The most boring phone call ever 11)Her patented pose 12)DUZZ LIGHTYEAR 13)James and the Giant Peach with Grammie and Papa 14)Reading to sister 15)If it's on the ground you must want me to jump in it and roll 16)Kid of the month 17)Waiting for sister with Buzz 18)Relaxing
19)Bunny 20)Big sisters are the best 21)New job 22)Oui Oui Monsieur 23)The Great Escape 24)Hanging around 25)Off to school 26)Retro Star Wars 27)Soccer girl with her dog 28)Congrats to the neighbors and their new baby girl 29)Hanging out in the princess tent 30)Watching the storm blow in 31)the storm