Tuesday Tea

This is fabulous. I'm over at Dawn's today, and every day this week, for teatime at 4pm. A scheduled break from the hustle and bustle of the joys of the holiday season and, for me, a moment to reflect on the reason for it all.
My teatime today consisted of a cherry Pepsi, the classic "Meet Me in Saint Louis", and two kids snuggled up next to me on the couch. Doesn't get any better than that!

Til tomorrow!

Blessings be to you.

This Moment

Inspired by SouleMama...
"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember."

Homemade butter. Fun!

Headbands and Babies!

The day after Thanksgiving Joann's had a great sale, so I went and picked up a rotary cutting system (LOVE IT!!!). I had been lusting after them for a while! I HAD to play with it when I got home (of course!) so I chose to make some headbands for my baby (for Christmas and such...) based on the wonderful tutorial from Raechel at finding my feet. These sewed up so quick and easy it was fabulous!

They look great when lounging around the house, running quick errands, or when looking cute while asleep at church. ;) They also stay on tight when attempting to steal all your brother's toys, an added benefit!

The only problem I had with them is that they could not keep up with the growing-up-too-fast-ness that is my baby girl. By the time Christmas came around, she had already grown out of them!!! Of course, that just means I have more sewing to do, so really that's a blessing in disguise! =)

This Moment

Inspired by SouleMama...
"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember."

Happy Friday!!!

Creating for My Girl...

Hi! Alison at oopsey-daisy is celebrating her 1 year blogiversary and is having a linky party of everyone's favorite projects. Now, if you do not know oopsey-daisy, you must run over there and check it out! It is one of my favorite crafty blogs and I am a daily reader. She has some fabulous ideas and links to more great ones. And a lot of those links and projects that are doable with young kids, which in this house really makes my day!
I thought I would join her celebration and do a post about a project I worked on a bit ago for my baby girl's bedroom...oh, how much fun is it to have a girl to craft for?! Anyway, I was looking for a lamp and saw a picture of a butterfly mobile and decided that I could easily craft one myself. I loosely based it on a tutorial I found here.

75 hand cut butterflies later...I love it! My baby love loves it. And it entertains her when I have to change the diaper, which is always a good thing! =)

Thanks Alison for your blog and for your inspiration!!! Here's to another year of craftiness!

I am also linking this post up at Just A Girl. If you have not been over there to see all the goodness, you have to check it out! Her painting tips are encouraging me to tackle something I would never have thought about doing otherwise...paint a big Ikea desk I scored on Craigslist! I am sure my husband only wishes she had tips for procrastination...I've been "painting" this desk for 4 months now...(my procrastination comes in the form of an adorable 9 month old...so her cuteness takes the sting off a bit!)

Have a great weekend. I'll be painting and scrapping! My idea of heaven. =)

Scrapbooking

I am taking the Ordiments of Everyday Life class at Big Picture Classes. I have to say that the first couple days I hated it. The first few assignments are to gather specific products and put them aside and then gather specific photos and put them aside. You do not know which products go with which photos and how until the page ideas come later. This is totally different from the way I scrapbook (photos+color) and totally different from the way I want to scrapbook (photos+story), but after seeing my tray fill with color I got excited!

And realizing that I was pulling photos out that I would NEVER scrapbook if it weren't for this class (but that I would like scrapped) got me addicted. This is the first layout done for this class with this method...

Love it! Can not wait to see what else comes of this and I am actually quite enjoying being so far out of my comfort zone! Love BPC!!!

100 Things

100 Things I am Unendingly Grateful for:

(encouraged by Karen G.)

1. My family
2. Our house
3. My husband’s job
4. The ability to be a SAHM
5. Creative pursuits
6. Warm comforters to snuggle under
7. Thick, warm socks
8. “Coffee”
9. Living in the city, but having a nice piece of nature too
10. Big Picture Scrapbooking
11. Blogs—a constant source of encouragement and inspiration
12. Facebook
13. Friendships that last
14. Skype
15. My kind-hearted nature
16. Books, Books, Books
17. My new stroller
18. Our van. God thank you for our van
19. New years, new days, new beginnings
20. Pictures
21. Our camera
22. Hobbies
23. Organization
24. Kelly Green
25. Bright Orange
26. Turquoise
27. Pink
28. Christmas
29. Lights on the house
30. Lights on the tree
31. Plan Toys road and rail system. Love it!
32. Wooden blocks
33. Space for imagination
34. Knowing how it is that I want to raise my kids
35. My mother and all she does for our family
36. Rain
37. Sunshine
38. A good cry
39. Heat—especially the moment when it first kicks on
40. Food
41. Dishes that need to be done, bills that need (and can) be paid, toys that need to be picked up, laundry that needs to be washed.
42. Remus
43. Memories of childhood
44. Notebooks
45. Great pens
46. Scrapbooking
47. Bird stickers
48. Time spend discovering me
49. Time shared discovering everything
50. The beauty of a good whale show
51. Sign Language
52. Christmas carols
53. Warm sweaters
54. Hot Chocolate
55. Christmas movies
56. My dining table and all the stories it could tell
57. My computer and the cool things it will let me do
58. The Box and the ability to handle all my photos
59. Picasa. Could not function without it!
60. Ali Edwards
61. Karen G.
62. Stacy Julian
63. Becky Higgins
64. Project Life and the husband that got it for me
65. The magic in the everyday
66. The ability to document the magic in the everyday
67. Gratitude lists and the attitude shift that comes with
68. My Library of Memories
69. The state of my savings account
70. Plane tickets home
71. Sunsets
72. Mass
73. The ability to meet God where HE is at sometimes
74. Pre-made baby food and disposable diapers!
75. Music and songs that speak to the soul
76. Flowing water
77. Time spent writing down, mapping out, and dreaming of where we are headed
78. Good conversations
79. The fact that my family always has to be together—usually in four square feet of space
80. Television and the ability to lose myself sometimes
81. Heroines that inspire and live lives that I dream of living
82. Intelligence
83. Culture
84. Education
85. My unused (as of yet) Master’s Degree
86. The Bible
87. Magazines
88. Amazon
89. Paint and its possibilities
90. Possibilities—a whole world of possibilities
91. Volunteering
92. Learning something new
93. Spending time with those I love
94. My children
95. Holding my baby in my arms
96. Hearing my son say “I love you, mommy”
97. Nursing
98. My protective and sweet dog
99. A full day’s work
100. Snuggling up with my love at the end of it

Happy Christmas to all and to all a great New Year!!!