stop and smell the flowers

I saw on Kelly Purkey's blog a layout she did (called Ombre! Ole!) using American Crafts Dear Lizzy ruffle paper.  I know we all loved it but it's one of those things that once you get it home you look at it think it's lovely and then think what the hell and I'm going to do with this?  I SO had that moment...until I saw the awesomeness that is KP.  She is one of the few that I follow on a daily basis and is a total creative genius.  I want to be her when I grow up...

Anywho KP used the yellow paper and masked/misted butterflies and I just thought it was so beautiful.  It also pushed me totally out of my comfort zone.  I am not new to painting or making a mess for that matter.  I am however new to misting and with misting comes the OMG what if I mess up this piece of paper.  Its my only one!!!  But I knew KP would never steer me wrong SO I grabbed a mask, sunset mist and ran with it. 

It was an EPIC fail!  BUT that's OK because I tried it AND sometimes those fails turn into to successes.  I wasn't going to let this get trashed.  I took a page from another one of my uber favorite people Stephanie Howell  and grabbed a doily - or two.  Layered some Dear Lizzy paper and stickers with three different alphas.  The two large ones are by American Crafts, one from the Dear Lizzy collection (the first one - a TJ Maxx score!) and the dreaded glitter gold alphas that everyone in the Studio Calico club was not digging.  I wasn't either but now I love them!  The smaller white squared ones are from MME's lime twist collection. I topped it off with a button/flair from Wendy's shop.  

So far this is one of my most favorite pictures of my daughter.  Spring came early here in Harpers Ferry and she asked if she could smell the flower.  When I told her yes she bent down and bit it instead.  What else would a 15 month old do?! :)  

you and him, him and you

I was an only child so now having two of my own I'm seeing for the first time how siblings are.  These two will fight, rat each other out, kiss, make each other laugh and stick up for each other even if they are totally in the wrong.  It's quite fascinating.  One lazy Sunday afternoon while daddy was at drill I snapped this pictures of the two just goofing off to the point of cracking me up. 

I'm still super new to PS and I couldn't get my flash to not hit that confetti pocket that is an &.  I purchased it from Wendy's shop A Life Handmade (from the looks of it I need to go shopping again) and I seriously need more.  The & mask, abroad papers, paper clip, potty people wood veneer and two different letter stickers are all from Studio Calico.  I used SC's silver, passport (navy) and clay Mister Huey's as well.  Sorry that the larger letters are hard to see.  I was really struggling with PS on this one.  I didn't want it to look fake and that's where it was headed if I made those two things more visible. 
Thanks for looking :)  Hopefully it won't take me a whole month to post stuff I've had done for a while. 

A special gift years in the making....

Our beloved Grandmother who we called Nonna (Italian for grandmother) passed away Dec 2006.  It was a Saturday and I was out of town with no cell phone service.  I saw her on that Thursday but had spent pretty much every weekend with her when we found out she was sick.  My cousin Jen was up from GA and got to hold her as she went with the angels to a better place.

The months following we were tasked with cleaning out her house, getting it ready for the market when I opened the jumbled mess of her jewelry box (now in a zip lock bag).  Her nursing pin that every nurse receives at graduation was in that mess.  I put it aside along with a few other pieces that I had always treasured.   A few years later my cousin decided it was time to go back to college to become an RN.  I knew instantly this had to be her graduation gift.  She has asked me numerous times if I ever found this pin...I have been lying to her for years.  

This gift was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. 

Finally graduation day came and my family of 4 drove down to GA with this in the back...

That's our Nonna in 1947 on her graduation day.  And that in the white frame is her pin from her Nursing School in Wheeling WV.

Here is a close up of that pin...

To say Jen was shocked was an understatement.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house.  It was truly priceless!  I was bringing Nonna to her graduation.

I'm not sure how among the blubbering I got this picture.  I was crying so hard before she even got to open it my husband had to step in and tell her that Nonna wanted her to have something.

Isn't she just crazy beautiful!  I see a layout with this picture in my future :)  Congrats Jen!  I love you bunches!
xoxo
-M

Sketchbook 4 - Sketch #3 - everyday a family

Using a bunch of My Minds Eye (just loving their new lines!) I did this layout for Kelly Purkey's Studio Calico Sketchbook class.  The awesome thing is that with each sketch she gives you at least three different view points from a starting sketch.  This time I went with uber basic.  All the paper is MME except for the polka dot velum which is American Crafts Dear Lizzy (another line I can't seem to get enough of!) The embellishments are also from MME and the days of the week are from my old stash made by Maya Road.

Sketchbook 4 - Sketch #2 - I AM 3

Again sorry for the crappy angle...so need to work on this!  So I got a S7 Polaroid camera and decided to test it out for my son's 3rd birthday.  Since I am in love with this Pebbles line I ran with it.  I also used three different sets of stamps from Studio Calico, one is stamped on velum and the tag is from Ormolu.  I can't remember where I saw this idea (if I do I will update my post so that person gets credit) but you glue down twine on a random piece of paper and then put the tag over it.  It gives it such depth! 

Sketchbook 4 - Sketch #1 Happiness in a Box

For the first Sketch in Kelly Purkey's awesome class (you can buy two of them on her blog...run now because its worth every penny!) This class - Sketchbook 4 from Studio Calico is no longer available but their May class (which is Ah-Mazing) is so if you want to learn how to get messy go to Studio Calico and sign up for Celine's class.  There is a kit too which is also just as awesome! 

While I loved the original sketch (which I can't show in respect to Kelly and crew) this is my take on it.  I just love some of the older lines (that you can still buy from two peas) and this alpha paper is just mad love.  Every month us subbers get a kit from SC.  You can get the add on's or anything else you wish in the shop.  This was my loot from April and oh boy was it just awesome!  Best box ever! but I'm sure i say that every time ;)  (sorry for the crocked picture...I'm still learning PS and how to take a straight picture apparently!) 

Liebster Blog Award!

A HUGE thank you to Tanya Johnson out of Australia for gifting me this awesome recognition.  We found each other off of a Linkedin group for scrapbookers.  She is super sweet and I'm very appreciative of her tagging me for inspiration.  Click on her name to give some love to her blog. Thanks Tanya!  You rock :)

The Liebster Blog Award is awarded to show appreciation of smaller blogs (under 200 followers) and to help with readership. As part of the tradition, the award is to be passed along to five other blogs that have motivated and inspired me.

To accept the Award you must:

1. Thank your Leibster Award sender on your Blog;

2. Link back to your sender on your Blog;

3. Copy and paste your Leibster onto your Blog;

4. Present the Leibster Award to 5 other Blogs with 200 or less Followers that you feel deserves some attention and recognition for awesome stuff;

5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving them a comment on their Blog.

So tag I'm it to share the love of 5 blogs that bring me joy, creativity and inspiration!

1.   Ursula Schneider is this amazing beautiful creature that I'm totally in awe over.  Beautiful inside and out she always pushes me to be a better scrapper.  

2.  Heather Innusa is a super fun blog and with 2 kiddos like myself she gets my vote for great PL spreads and super cute craftiness :)

3.  Caz Hancock is another amazing person I met off of SC.  She resides in New Zealand and just has the best attitude when it comes to life in general.  I love her passion for scrapbooking and I love her style :) 
4.  Jessica B. has a blog that is a bit of a mixed bag.  She shares her love for being a girl (something I'm trying to work on so I always love to see), her love for good food (I'm a foodie myself) and of course the scrapbooking!  Her layouts are super fun, girly and fresh.
5.  Magdalena is last but not least.  Out of Sweden she has some awesome layouts that are totally out of the box.  I love that she takes chances in a craft that can kind of get a bit cookie cutter-ish.  She's also a ton of fun on the message boards ;)

Those are my picks.  Go check them out, follow, give them some love and enjoy! 
xoxo,
-M