Feeling kinda snazzy!

Tidy house. Clean sheets on my bed. Baby asleep in the swing. Toddler busy with Thomas the Train. Hot coffee beside me. New colorful clothes hanging in my closet. Visit planned with my friend this afternoon. Sun shining outside. Mosh Posh scrapbooking kit on my desk. Mmmm... it's a good day! What's making your day today? Anything to be thankful for? Some days I have to really dig to find that thing to be thankful for. Sometimes it's just that I brushed my teeth, for heaven's sake. Some days are like today. I'm in a positive mood and the birds are singing outside and I have rainbows shooting from my ears. Love that. Imagine my big smile:


So, today is another Mosh Posh blog party BLOG HOP! I had so many ideas, I tell you. So many rich plans which fell by the wayside when I got buried in a pile of laundry up to my ears last night. That kind of ruined my plans. This is what my face looked like last night as I was folding clothes:


I didn't do a stinking thing all weekend as far as chores are concerned. It was a holiday weekend! I was on strike! And yesterday I was paying for it with the numerous domestic tasks on my to-do list. So... I whipped something up for you. Something to make you feel like at least you got a nugget from my blog today.

I got the new June Mosh Posh kit yesterday. My trusty mail man came up to our gate in the drizzling rain. I saw his shoes under the fence before he even knocked! He's this happy old man with white hair and mustache. I call him my skinny Santa... although not to his face. But he gets a kick out of delivering my boxes to me because of my reaction. I can tell it makes him happy to be a mailman. I'm glad I can make him happy about that. He's probably wondering WHAT is in these boxes I get. Maybe someday I'll tell him. Although, that would probably ruin it for him. LOL!

So, I got my kit... and because I can't keep a secret, no way no how, I took some shots of it this morning to share with you. Please beware of electric shock as you drool onto your keyboard:


And because I like to give you something to make your visit worthwhile I leave you with this final facial expression.

What would you call this face? Snooty? Pompous? Spoiled? Gassy? Hmmm... I do love my QuickCam distortion photos. That's another thing I'm thankful for today! ;)

Man, do I love my kiddo...

My son Ben is weeks away from his third birthday and as that date fast approaches he becomes more and more precocious. The kid says the most hysterical things. He's even arguing with me at great length several times a day... about nothing at all. When I ask (or tell) him to do something he usually replies with a 5 paragraph long dissertation about this and that instead of just saying "yes, Mommy". I would prefer the "yes, Mommy" but I completely understand where he got this lengthiness from. It's 100% me. It's one of my most annoying, and endearing, personality traits. My whole family calls me the lawyer. I really should have pursued law instead of art. I thrive on healthy debate and heated arguments. And I LOVE being right! I am right. Always. ;)

Anyways, today we had yet another of these moments where my child when told what to do tried desperately to come up with an argument. And instead of letting it annoy me I ran to a sheet of scrap paper and wrote it down. It went like this:

Me: "Oh, look, Benjamin! Gracie is awake!"
Ben: "I need to get down and see her now."
Me: "Nope. You need to finish your lunch first."
Ben: "UGH. I'm just... too thirsty for this. I just... can't eat any garbage! Or apples! Or nothin'!!!"
Me: ...writing...
Ben: *sigh* "My teeth can't chew any more of this food. I just can't. I'm finished."
Me: ...writing...
Ben: "I'm tired about this lunch! Because... this is a bad noodle today!!!" *sigh*

The funniest things about this is that A: he was pausing to wait for me to respond... which I usually do. B: he was not even eating noodles for lunch C: he continued this silly talk for 3 more minutes before he finally finished his lunch.

Well, yesterday I promised a downloadable version of my paper-pieced Birdie Family Pattern. Thanks so much for all the compliments on it! I really would love to see your layouts if any of you use the pattern. About the pattern: the image of it in yesterday's post is not printable... it will be super blurry if you try. So please download this version if you want to print it. Click here to download the printable file.


Now, since I haven't updated my blog in ages and ages, I figured I'd post my May Mosh Posh layouts today. Better late than never, right? I loved loved loved this kit. I gobbled it up. I really love the new Lily Bee papers and the Sassafras Lass papers combined.

The kit didn't come with any flower add-ons and I wanted MORE (I'm very into flowers lately), so I hand-cut my own flowers from the papers in the kit. With just a little folding and creasing it's hard to tell which are handmade and which are purchased. This is a great tip if you ever need a flower but don't have any that match. Just grab another flower and trace around it on the paper... then cut it out. I like to fold each petal in half and then curl the petals back with my fingers. For an extra dimension I sometimes ink the edges with my cats eye chalk inks.






So, those are my layouts for the May kit! Oh, and some news... my hubby bought me a Cricut on ebay for mother's day. I plan on trying it out for the first time sometime this weekend. It needs new mats. I'm definitely excited about it but also apprehensive because I've never used a die-cutting machine before. I hope I like it!

:)

Happy Blog Hop!

Well, other than waking up twice with the baby last night and once to pee and then spilling my coffee all over myself this morning I'm doin' good. Surprisingly good! How are you this fine Tuesday?

I've been doing a little scrapbooking lately... and by a little I really mean "a little". It seems like I go through cycles. The gathering cycle and the consuming cycle... and right now I'm definitely gathering more and more and more supplies. They just pile up in their crinkly little cellophane wrappers, all shiny and new. I like to look at them and imagine what I would do with them. And then I go dig through my scraps and squeeze out one over-worked layout. I'm buying a lot more than I'm using! But I know that I'll end this phase (when my hubby stares and my piles and says no. or when I feel guilty about my self-indulgences) and then I'll start using it all up.

Speaking of pretty things to collect... have you SEEN all the cute baby & kids clothes out there? The influx of adorable mermaids, ice creams, robots, dinosaurs, fish, snails, frogs, and fruits is too much to resist! I am constantly inspired by the cutesy little characters embroidered or pieced onto them. Like this adorable little outfit my daughter wears (from Gymboree):


Which leads me to my next topic... paper piecing! Have you ever tried it? Officially? I was feeling particularly crafty the other day and designed a few birdies to put on the layout I was working on. Here's my layout:




Here's the pattern:


I have to run now, but I'll post the printable pattern for you all to download tomorrow!

Tootles!!! ;)

It's a Mosh Posh blog party!!!

Want to win this awesome prize? Go to the Mosh Posh blog today! The party has started!!! Tomorrow we're having a blog hop, so be sure to come by and visit me for a scrapbooking freebie. CLICK HERE!

Mosh Posh May Specials!!!

Lots of great things are going on at Mosh Posh this month, including some awesome deals on new memberships. If you purchase a new 6 month membership you get your choice of a free february or march kit.

Here's this month's kit:

The February kit:

and the March kit:


...how cool is it that you get one of these kits for free just for signing up???

You can also purchase a 3 month membership at the 6 month membership price.

Read about it on the Mosh Posh website.

** also we're having a contest to choose a guest DT member for the month of June. The contest runs until May 15th. You can read more about that here: Mosh Posh blog.