Christmas Card

Okay...so maybe it's a little too early to be thinking about my Christmas cards, but I'm pretty sure this is my prototype. My inspiration? The Mother/Daugher Challenge for the {Stamps} of Life. Stamp set is Penguins4Christmas!

Feelin' like Fall

The newest addition to the decorations around the house is a series of 7 picture frames that hangs in our front room. For the fall they will look like this and read "HARVEST." I'm really excited for what the other seasons will bring! See below for close-ups :)

Halloween in Paradise?

So Hans wanted to be Jimmy Buffet for Halloween. Somehow I was elected to be the Parrot.

369 days...

Three hundred and sixty-nine days ago I married my best friend. This weekend we celebrated our year anniversary by having a Staycation. We went to Emeril's Chop House, watched our favorite movies and defrosted the topper to our wedding cake. Hans surprised me by even knowing that the 1-year anniversary present is paper! We had a great weekend and watched the wedding video of our ceremony. It brought back so many amazing memories of the day. Here are some to share :)

How pretty I felt in my dress.

My favorite picture of Hans from the day.

Our wedding vows.

The kiss!

Another kiss with bubbles!

A relaxed wedding portrait under the big tree on Muhlenberg's campus.

This was an amazing day that just marked the beginning of our marriage and time together. We have had some ups and downs over the last 369 days. I am fortuante that the ups are more than the downs. And the downs are what makes the ups that much better!

Mother/Daughter #2

I've been a card making fool recently. This little owl flew itself all the way to my mom :)

Supplies: Cardstock-black and white Bazzil; Stamps- The {Stamps} of Life "Owls2Love" and Limited Addition "#6", Stamp Camp "Random ABC"; Punch-Stampin' Up Ledger; Ribbon-From Local Scrapbooking Store

Thanks for looking!

Cards from me 2 you.

There are some days that I am really glad that my keyboard is black, because underneath it is most likely some muddy shade of every stamp color that I own. Here are some cards that I have been working on lately...

For a friend's mom.

Paper pieced from K&Company: Happy Trails Hot Flowers. Stamp: the {Stamps} of life, Club Exclusive Ltd Edition #6

For my sister-in-law's mom.

This paper is really old. I have no idea where it came from, other than my "Pink, Purple and Yellow" stack. Stamp: flower2doodle

For my great aunt.

Paper: Card Stack #2. Stamps: branches4flowers

For my neice on her First day of First grade.

Ribbon: Berwick Offray1" berry double faced grosgrain. Stamps: kites2fly


Thanks for looking!

Siblings

T-minus ONE WEEK until all the kiddies are together again. J, K and Mini-me are coming for a visit! I think I will most enjoy the babies together, they can play and point and babble with each other while all the adults ooh and ahhh over them!


And I leave you tonight with this picture of my Ryan doing what he does best :D

Daughter/Mother Challenge 1

At CKC this year, mom and I came up with an amazing idea while standing at the {Stamps} of Life booth - we joined the stamp of the month club and decided on some friendly creative competition to spice it up a bit (and, to give us additional excuses to use the stamps).

At the beginning of August, we received our very FIRST set, Branches4Flowers:


After we get the stamp set, we each give ourselves one week to get our creation in the mail. I send mine to my mama, and she sends me hers! We wait until we both get them and then open together. It's such a fun phone call discussing technique, paper and colors. I <3 talking "shop" with my mom and it's so fun that we enjoy the same type of hobby.

Here is my card. It started as a #10, then decided to cut it down to an A2 - giving me a cute little gift card on the right.

Goodies List: Stamp: The {Stamps} of Life, Branches4Flowers; Ink: Adirondack, Slate; Paper: DCWV La Creme Stack; Punch: Martha Stewart, Butterfly; Die Cut: Nestabilities, Small Scalloped Ovals; Ribbon: by the yard from LSS.

Thank you for looking - at check out my Mamacita's blog for her creation!

Learn to Fly

I must confess that for a while now I haven't been feelin "it." I don't really know what "it" is, nor where "it" went. Water under the bridge because I'm glad "it's" back. Going to CKC Valley Forge last weekend really helped. It was good to replenish the scrapbooking supplies and recharge with my mommy.

Here is sketch 5 that I post on scrapbaby! sketches on facebook.


I surprisingly stayed true to my sketch! A beautiful picture of my beautiful neice was just the mojo and momentum I needed to bring "it" back.



Thanks for looking!

There's No Place Like Home

We are the Sunshine Dancing Kids

Watch Us Shiiiiiiiiine.

Hello, Summertime.

Hello, Summertime!
Thank you for making a wonderful first impression on me.
Love,
Jessica

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

To a woman that has always supported me, loved unconditionally, and has been my best friend my whole life...

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom there is, mine.

I love you.

Happy Birthday Bunny!

Dear Claire bear,
One day you will read this letter and probably wonder why I chose this picture to mark you first birthday. You are full of personality and are 100% girly girl. You love your little dresses and frills. You love to feed your little dolly and play tea party with your bunnies and puppies. You are smart and inquisitive, and you touch everything with your sweet little index finger first before grabbing it with your whole hand. You love to sing and you think clapping your hands is so funny. Right now you are too little to understand, but you are loved more than you can ever imagine.

Happy FIRST Birthday, Bunny!

Love,
TiTi

March 23, 2011

Key Largo...Montego....Baby, why don't we go?

It's really nice to be able to spend Sunday being creative. Today I scrapbooked with a wonderful woman and good friend, Robin. We had some great conversation and a whole lotta creativity today! I mostly finished labeling all of my scrapbooking supplies (pictures to come later) but I did manage to start and finish a layout about our 2009 Key West Trip.

MLPA Sketch I made for March:

And here is my quite literal take on it -- I mean, if I made the sketch up to begin with...might as well stay on the same page! (pun intended) Probably one of the busiest pages I have created in a long time, but the paper really inspires me! There will be another layout probably posted sometime next week.

The top three photos open (a scrapbaby! specialty) to reveal several other pictures of "places" we explored on our fun-filled vacation. Thanks for looking!

Engagement Photo #1

A rainy and lazy Sunday means that I get to be creative. I don't want to do housework because my feet hurt (sore feet = a good night of dancing the night before, see post below for details). So, I sat myself down and scrapbooked.

Here is February Sketch #5 that I did for MLPA:

And here is my creation! The paper is from the Glitz Girls Rebel Line, and the paper is actually more orange than it looks in this photo. Can't seem to get the light balance correctly in my scraproom for accurate picture taking.

With all of my newly acquired spare time (read: no longer planning a wedding or buying a house, or jetsetting) I'm going to really start to scrapbook more. I'm going to do our favorite engagement photo pictures and make a mini album (the size will be 12x12, but there won't be a LOT of pages). This way, one picture will go in my Year scrapbook, and the others will go in a mini-album! Can't wait to start getting creative!

Fat Tuesday.

Last night we had my company Employee Appreciation party. It was a Mardi Gras theme this year. The pictures that I snapped don't nearly capture all of the fun we had. It was a great time! Thanks U for a great party!

Birthday

I've decided that with all of the sketches and layouts that I have been doing as of late, that I'm going to start scrapbooking one layout from the past and then one layout from the current year. I figure that I'll get myself caught up eventually.

Here's the sketch:

And here's the layout (click to enlarge): This from Ethan's FIRST birthday. He will be three in May. Time really does go by quickly!

The checked pattern paper was pieced together by me. In person, it actually looks like the paper is woven together - kinda cool actually.

Thanks for looking!

Goin' with the flow

So I've been a little remiss on the posting of layouts, but here are more from the sketches and layouts I have completed for MLPA.

Sketch 2 and layout. You may remember the picture from a recent blog post about Ryan. I took my letter I wrote to him and put it to scrapbook page.

And Sketch #3. I took the concept of a film strip and broke up a picture of pumpkins from our pumpkin picking excursion. I'm really happy how this layout turned out. Feels so much like fall on this wintery day.

Oh! And speaking of seasons. I'm sick of snow and Puxatawny Phil is a dirty little liar.

Dear Spring,

Please come quickly! I can't wait any longer.

Love,

Jessica

To the moon, Alice!

I have been waiting/wanting to visit Mayan ruins for at least 8 years. Another item checked off the Bucket List. Kohunlich will stay with me forever. More pictures of the honeymoon to follow.

I do.

Just when the blogosphere thought I wasn't scrapbooking anymore, I was! Just not posting. I'm back to hosting a challenge on the MLPA forum. So every Sunday evening for the month of February I post a new sketch that I have created.

Here is Sketch 1:
And here is my layout! The picture quality of the layout isn't exactly the best, but you get the point! This picture was taken (I love Fairmount Photgraphy!) of me on my wedding day while getting ready. I can still remember my excitement throughout the day. Now that I think about it, I don't even know how I didn't jump out of my skin - that's how excited I was.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Dear Ryan,

You are not old enough yet to know how truly special and how truly loved you are. You have this laugh that just warms my heart and big brown eyes that are always smiling. You are inquisitive and adventurous, and have this innate talent of emptying your mommy's pantry of all the canned goods and hiding them in the living room. You are 100% boy and I love all 100% of you. I am counting down the days until February when we can celebrate!



Happy FIRST Birthday, Little Man!



Love,

Mimi

Laugh

This picture was taken about two years ago, scrapbooked 1 year ago and the layout is currently showcased on my magnet board in my scraproom. As I sit at my computer and ruminate, it's my constant reminder that I don't always have to be so responsible.

Every once in a while I don't have to be a grown up.

Every once in a while I just need to give myself a break.

Pen Pals

Remember being in middle school and having a penpal and thinking it was the coolest thing ever? You'd ask people what their favorite color was, or their favorite hobby outside of school. In the age of electronic, well, everything, I'm taking a step back in 2011 and picking up a pen. I posted on facebook right before the new year that I wanted penpals, and a few people responded that they were totally into it!


So, I'm combining my passion for creativity and penmanship into one, and making handmade cards for those in need of something a little different in 2011. If any of my scrappy friends out there want to join me, I'd love to get really creative this year.


Here's a sampling of the first round of cards that will be mailed tomorrow morning...in hand-made envelopes, of course!:

Are you one of the lucky recipients?

Disclaimer: Please pay no attention to the mess behind the cards.

Love actually is all around.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion...love actually is all around.
--Love actually

This has been a year filled with love for not only me, but for several of my friends. Wedding season started August 2009 and has been in full swing ever since. I love my friends, and I love that each has been able to find happiness.

Andy and Jessica -- August 2009

Liz and Kyle -- October 2009

Meredith and Brad -- June 2010


Todd and PaulieAnne -- July 2010


Jenny and Ryan -- August 2010


Jessica and Hans -- October 2010

Life is full of interruptions and complications. Sometimes we are so busy and concerned with the day-to-day life that we forget about the biggest thing of all...love. This is my decree that I will not forget. To me, you are perfect.