nesting instinct?

I don't know if it would be considered nesting instinct if it has nothing to do with the baby or cleaning the rest of the house, but I think the nesting thing is starting to kick in - HARDCORE.

DH put my Expedit together and I have to still organize it and the rest of the room.

We're planning to make a trip to Home Depot one of these days for some wall shelving. We've had a gift card for a while and while it was for DH for his birthday a year or so ago, he hasn't used it yet so I'm claiming it as MINE now. *lol* I can't wait to start storing stuff vertically and OFF the floors! *lol*

And I got 2 new idea books recently (I'm a sucker for idea books, you all know that)... I haven't had a chance to look at them in their entirety yet, but they both look promising. I don't know why I have an addiction to idea books - maybe the pictures? The guidelines? The actual IDEAS? Who knows... I just can't get enough of them. Thank goodness for Amazon and their discounted prices and free shipping. I can't see myself paying whole price for one of these things.

Keep on the lookout for a future post. I may advertise a virtual garage sale here on my blog after I'm done purging my stuff... I'm thinking of making kits with the stuff I'm getting rid of (Thanks for the idea Ady!), getting rid of some older idea books and magazines, some wood mounted rubber stamps I don't use anymore, etc...

But that's a WHOLE 'nother project to take on aside from organizing the scrap room and pictures so that's going to have to wait.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'm off to celebrate a baby shower honoring me and our baby girl. :)

new look?

After almost 2 years of this blog, I thought I'd give it a facelift and try something new...

What do you think of the new look? Love it? Hate it? Too bright? Too busy? Lettering and such too small?

Hmm... I'm usually a minimalist, but I like how fun and vibrant this is... I may leave it this way for a while...

Here's where I got the template:



Oh and I guess if you follow my blog via Google Reader, it doesn't affect you much, does it?

Our Love Story (mini)

So here's the little book I made for Carl for Valentine's Day...

Not bad for losing my mojo for the past year, don't you think? :)

supplies:
cardstock: Bazzill
patterned paper: American Crafts, Teresa Collins
letter stickers: American Crafts, My Little Shoebox
silk flower: Prima
mini brads: Queen & Co.
stamping ink: StazOn
chipboard and epoxy stickers: Love, Elsie
other: binder rings, Cropodile, ribbon (various sources)

Wish I could also say that I also got an awesome and romantic V Day gift in return, but sadly, I didn't. *sigh* Oh well...

i'm on a mission.

I'm seriously on a mission to reorganize my scrapbook room/office. I think that's a HUGE part of why I lose mojo so fast - I can get SOOOO disorganized!

And that's such a terrible trait - I'm a VIRGO for goodness sakes! (I didn't mean for that to rhyme. *lol*)

The scraproom is really cluttered. I need to gut the place and start fresh. But there's just so much stuff I don't even know where to begin.

Over the weekend, Carl and I made a trip to Ikea and I got an Expedit bookcase! It hasn't been assembled yet and we haven't brought it up from the garage (we need help doing that), but I'm super excited to get it done. We also picked up some drawers for some of the cubbies and a couple of doors. It should be interesting to get it finally finished.

And now onto Stacy Julian's newest book... I thought I just had it on my wishlist on Amazon but imagine my surprise when I got an email confirmation saying that the book had shipped and would be delivered this past Monday! I was super excited - there was a huge lag and wait time for the book - 1-2 months - and that's why I never added it.

But I'm SO GLAD that I did (even if it was by accident! *lol*). This book is awesome. It's totally inspiring me to go through my pictures and reorganize the way I scrapbook. Her style totally just fits mine. I love it. I can't wait to implement her ideas and adapt them to my own.

I went ahead and ordered the index card file boxes I had mentioned in a previous post. I can't wait for those to arrive so I can organize my pictures!

And yes, I know I should be saving money.... But you know what? We called our loan guy to see how it would look if we were to buy a house while still owning the condo - it doesn't look so good. Stupid economy. So, while we're stuck in our condo for goodness knows how long, we might as well make ourselves comfortable and happy. Don't you think?

Yes, I'm totally trying to rationalize my spending. :)

But it's ok though - I've got a really supportive husband!... who happens to have expensive (if not MORE expensive) hobbies too... :)

lots of layouts and cards...

Last Friday I organized a girls night out with some gals I met on a mommy messageboard. A couple of us hit up Remember When's weekender crop. I had never been to a crop there before but it was super fun! I got 4 pages done and I'm almost done with hubby's Valentine's Day gift. Yippee...

Here are the layouts I did:

don't mind the mess on the desk!
supplies: patterned paper: Making Memories, October Afternoon; letter stickers: Heidi Swapp, journaling block: Making Memories; journaling pen: American Crafts.

supplies: patterned paper: October Afternoon, Digital Brush: Ali Edwards (www.designerdigitals.com), chipboard heart: Heidi Swapp, font: Century Gothic, other: corner rounder

supplies: cardstock: Bazzill, patterned paper, chipboard letters: Scenic Route; journaling sticker, pen: American Crafts; epoxy stickers: SEI

supplies: cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper, letter stickers, rub-ons: Heidi Grace; grommets: We R Memory Keepers; digital brush: Ali Edwards (www.designerdigitals.com); font: Century Gothic, Susie's Hand

As you can see, I'm totally a fan of enlarging my pics and using Ali Edwards' digital brushes from Designer Digitals. I love the look it creates. So much fun playing around with them in Photoshop.

AND, that's just not it, people. I actually got busy and made some cards. I didn't make them at the crop night, but it was still fun creating them at home. :)

supplies: cardstock, scallop border punch, stamping ink: Stampin' Up!; stamp: Pun Fun (Stampin' Up!); ribbon: Target

The following 3 cards were made using the Love You Much Bundle that Stampin' Up! offered last month... The deal is over, but the paper, stamps and paper punch can be bought separately!




supplies: stamps: Love You Much set; paper: Candy Lane Designer Series paper; Heart to Heart punch; scallop circle punch; scallop border punch; ribbon (unknown)

supplies: Party Hearty set, stamping ink, paper crimper, cardstock, stamping ink - Stampin' Up!; other: ribbon from Target

supplies: Big Bold Birthday set, stamping ink, cardstock - Stampin' Up!; other: mini-brad (unknown)

So there you have it. I think I did pretty good with my vacation time don't you think? :)

And if ever you want to order some Stampin' Up goodness, go to my website! Sale-A-Bration is going on right now and it's a great way to get free stamps!

Well, I'm back to work tomorrow night. *sigh* Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

quickie update

Congrats to my friend Jamie who delivered a beautiful baby girl yesterday! So excited for her and her husband! Baby Keira is beautiful!

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been on vacation this week just to chill and it's also Jonah's birthday week so we've been a little busy. Zoo on Monday. Aquarium on Wednesday (his actual birthday) and his birthday party is today. Whew! It's exhausting!

I DID get together with some friends and got some scrapping done! 4 layouts and I'm almost done with a *gasp* MINI-BOOK for the hubby for Valentine's Day.

I haven't scanned or taken pictures of my finished stuff, but I will as soon as I get a chance (probably tomorrow... Hubby is going out with some friends in the afternoon and if Jonah takes a good long nap, I have a date with the scanner. *lol*)

Pregnancy #2 is going well so far. I've accepted the gestational diabetes, but the OB keeps throwing curveballs at me - now I have to go to the hospital twice a week for non stress tests. *sigh* I pray for a healthy baby. All of this is for her.

4 more weeks of work. I'm so excited to be on maternity leave. I absolutely cannot wait. You KNOW I'll be counting down the days. *lol*

More later...