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March 31

Okay so a couple of weeks ago, I told you about Visualize. Do you remember? Well I have been pretty lazy with taking pictures this week, so I don't have a bunch of family pictures to share, buuuuttt, I do have about 10 pages of inspirng quotes and creativity sparklers for you crafty gals reading my blog :)

Click on the link below to see what I have bookmarked. If you haven't created your own account yet, I strongly encourage you to do it!

My Visualize

Okay, well as I was proofreading this post, I remembered that I did make a couple of patterned papers while I was playing in Photoshop and practicing some different techniques so I will share that with you :)

Once I figure out how to make it available for you to download, I will *try* to come back and update this post. If I forget, feel free to remind me, okay? Thanks!


My ladybug paper :)  I am so proud of this! Basic, I know, but I have no artistic/drawing talent so to be able to put the circles togeher in such a way that they look anything relative to a real ladybug is nothing short of miraculous :) hehehe!

The Bunny Paper :) In honor of all the easter candy I devoured today :) Yay for chocolate bunnies!

March 30

What a day this turned out to be! I had Bible Study this morning and then visited a friend this afternoon, got my keys locked in the car with three seatbelted kids inside. I waited about an hour (while the car was running) between trying to coax the four year old out of his "securely strapped carseat" to get them out and waiting for the locksmith. Of all the times that this could have happened to me, this was the worst. Let me explain.

Are you anything like me? I mean, where you just say whatever pops into your head, without thinking *how it may come out* to the hearers of your words? Well, I hope for your sake you are not anything like me, because let me tell you, this little mouth of mine has gotten me in many-a-trouble. It's not that I mean to be insensitive to other people, ever, but sometimes I can come across that way. You know what's even worse than that? When you do come across that way and someone tells you, and you come across *that* way again as you apologize. Uggghhh! So what's a girl to do? Put your big girl panties on and make nice. The right way. So that's what I did, or was trying to do when my six year old locked us out of the car. Great! Now that I finally had made peace with the offended, I am now stuck in her driveway with almost all my kids locked in the car. That makes for an awkward situation, people. Seriously. But you know what I learned, sometimes you just have to face your fears (in this case for me it was confrontation, which I supremely suck at, by the way!), and you never know what good and wonderful things may happen as a result. All in all, stressful today was, yes, but I would go through it all again just to have the peace of knowing that I made it right, now. Except for the rain, keys locked in the car & the confrontation part :) Yeah, Jesus, if You ever need to make me learn that lesson again in the future, can we just skip all that? Thanks! haha!

I will leave you with this quote I heard. Think about this today.

"People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

Let's all try harder to make one another feel great when we speak to and about one another.

March 29

Happy Real Birthday to my Sister today :)

My sweet and ever-helpful mother-in-law watched the kiddos today so that I could go shopping with one of my friends from Bible Study today. When I got back to her house, the kids were having a blast playing with their cousins so I made another layout. Yay!!!!

Jonathan has been playing kickball with the kids in the afternoon when he comes home from work since the time has changed and it's darker longer now. They really look forward to their outside time with Daddy and it gives me a little sanity break while I prepare dinner or finish straightening the house. This layout was originally going to be of all the kids playing together, but when I was sorting through the pictures there were just soooo many of Kagen I decided to just do the whole page of his expressions. This has got to be the most adorable 4 year old boy in the whole great big world! He's even cuter when he crying (if you don't have to hear the noise that said crying produces! haha!) I just love that little boy to pieces :)

Click on the image to see it larger in another window :)

March 28

Almost Happy Birthday :) for my little sister, Brandy. For about 20 years, we celebrated her birthday on today, which is the wrong day. Haha! Who does that? Yesterday we went to my Mom's house to celebrate her real birthday which is tomorrow. Seriously. We have the birth certificate proof now. Hahaha! This still cracks me up :)

My sister is such a beautiful and amazing woman! She is an excellent mother and wife and has been my best friend for years, depite all of our childhood squabbles :) She has come to my rescue in so many times of need in the way that only  a sister can. She has seen all my faults and failures and loves me still. She encourages me to carry on through thick and thin. I am so fortunate to have her in my life.

She asked me to take a couple of pictures of her and her husband for his new desk at work and they turned out really cute and playful so I thougt I'd share them for today's post since I didn't take any pictures for today. Hope you don't mind!

This one was my favorite one of the both of them.

This was my favorite candid shot of them. She's was being a goofball and I was trying to take a picture of them giving each other a kiss. None of those really turned out because we were all laughing so hard at her trying to put one foot up in those heels and stll stand up straight and tall on uneven grass.  Haha!

March 27

Church was really good this morning. Pastor started a new series of messages called "What If?". His message today was about finding your "chazown" in life. What if..you figured out your chazown? What if we made all of our decisions based on our chazown? Are you dying to know what a "chazown" is? It's your purpose in life, people! Hmmm.... Very thought provoking stuff! There are so many responsibilities that we each have, as Christians, moms, wives, daughters, friends, leaders, etc. Knowing what your purpose in life can give you both direction and peace in your life in the midst of turmoil and chaos. Been there and done that. Cancer. Hurricanes. Pregnancies. Remodeling. New Business. Homeschooling. I could go on and on...but I won't. Because I've already talked all that out with my husband this afternoon and it's quite overwhelming! I hope you were able to hear this message!

Moving on....We went to the park this afternoon with the kiddos. They had such a great time running around and playing together. Kalyn even met a new friend so she was beyond thrilled! I got to walk around a bit and take some pictures to use as texture fills on the paper I am making for the Art of Digital Design class I am taking at Jessica Sprague. I am learning so much so fast in this class! Wish I had more time to play :(

I used one of Crystal Wilkerson's Quickpages to do this quick layout of everyone playing at the park this afternoon.


Click on the layout to view it larger in another window.

March 26

Confession - I do not post daily :( As much as I would like to post everyday, I put it on the back burner. Until I get about a week behind and feel guilty for not keeping up. Plus no one is commenting much, so I don't know if anyone besides me is reading what I blog. I say all that to say that when I logged on today to update this week, I again got sidetracked when I discovered that our identity crisis was now in fact a crisis. The police had to come to our house, fill out a police report, etc. and now my neighbors are probably wondering what in the world we are talking to the police about. They were all official, standing in the driveway with their arms crossed, feet shoulder width apart, with their notepad. Writing everything down we told them. Giving us a paper, like we were the ones being "served". It's quite embarassing. And we don't even talk much to our neighbors. Now they are probably glad that they don't associate with us. Haha! okay, sorry about the rabbit trail. Back on topic, why I don't post daily. I don't know. I just don't. So there you have it. You get what you get and don't whine a bit, right? hehehe! Sorry, sometimes mommy mode kicks in even when I am blogging. :)

I spent the entire morning catching up on laundry and housekeeping and then the entire afternoon working on a new home network, installing new virus protection on our computers and dealing with tech support, all to hear them say we have no leaks, no viruses, no explanantion for how someone could have gotten a hold of our personal information and used it to buy themselves a brand new laptop, which was paid for by my bank and delivered and accepted by the thief who ordered it. Now 10-14 days before I will hear anything and hopefully get my money back, and no guarantee of who took it and how they got access. In the grand scheme of things, I guess it's a good thing that we didn't have any viruses, but on the other hand, it would have made me feel a teensy bit better if I knew that's what caused the problem. Does that even make sense? I digress.

So my sister brought milkshakes and sundaes over for everyone while I had an emotional outburst with the bank, and paypal. Again. I digress.

Here are some random pictures for the week:

Her blue eyes are so pretty!

Never have I ever, actually seen two eggs in one. I made everyone come look at the twin eggs :)


Kid number three, who's actually 4 :) That probably doesn't make sense to anyone but him..

My sweet Caleb, who pushed Chloe for at least a solid hour on the swing. Now she can do it herself. Isn't that incredible? I think so :)

And here's Kalyn. Mad as a hornet, refusing to let me take her picture.

March 25

I don't have a lot to share today, except for this one amazing site that was recommended by one of my fellow Art of Digital Design classmates. AMAZING, the inspiration you'll find here.

Craftgawker - for all things crafty

But wait, there's more :

Foodgawker - for all things food

Don't go yet, here's another one:

Dwellinggawker - for all things decorating/home improvement

Now, immediatley -- pick one and click - prepare yourself to be in inspiration overload!

March 24







I had so much fun designing my own papers and working on my spring layout that I had to make another one :) I made this one of Chloe, playing on the swing. She loves it! That girl has some of the cutest expressions. Don't you agree?
I designed these papers, too, except for the heart overlay, which I made from one of Crystal Wilkerson's hearts that I extracted and turned into a brush to make an overlay for my page. It was recolored to fit my page. The Little Girl Element is from Echo Park. This was my version of the Template Tuesday #8 Freebie by the Queen of Quirk on Jessica Sprague's Digi Lovely website.



You can click on the picture to see it larger on a new page.




March 23

Super quick post today -- just wanted to share the layout I promised yesterday, and then I am off to Bible Study for a discussion on the power of our words. Hmmm, this should be interesting with a group of women :) Wish me luck!


This is a double page spread that I made with our pictures from the park on Sunday. Click on it to see it larger in another window :)  I used all of the papers I designed that I posted yesterday, too. Recolored Buttons - Crystal Wilkerson. Altered Butterfly - Echo Park.


March 22

Okay, so today we are experiencing technical difficulties with identity theft, Yep, identity theft. Someone ripped us off to the tune of nearly $800.00 so far, courtesy of my supposedly secure Paypal account. I have been on the phone a lot today,  back and forth with Paypal and my bank. How does this happen? Grrrr!

If you have experienced anything like this, please pass on your advice on how to handle it, what to do or not to do. Much appreciation!

In other news, my class is moving very quickly and we have learned how to make several different types of papers. Here's a look at 5 of the papers I designed for a layout that I am working on right now. I will share it with you tomorrow :) Promise!

Blue Solid, Funky Polkadots, Large Polkadots,  Stripes, and another Solid.

March 21



After recovering from the disaster that the vacation day left in its wake, we went back outside for another backyard photo shoot, this time in full manual mode. Some shots turned out horrible, but to my surprise some actually turned out well (at least as well as it can be for my desperately needs lawn service backyard! hah!). I *think* I have backyard picture settings figured out. Yay!!! This is so exciting! It definitely boosted my confidence to try to do more with manual mode. These are SOOC.

March 20

Today we took a vacation day from our everyday, busy life. One day with no cleaning, cooking, laundry, work, shopping, or stress. A temporary escape from the reality that is this crazy life :)  Sounds too good to be true? Maybe, if  you do it more than one day at a time :) You should know that those things can't be neglected long with five children!

It was a beautiful day, perfect for spending time together at the park :)





March 19

So the first week of my design class at Jessica Sprague is over :( This week flew by! I have learned a lot about the design process this week, and have found a couple of new inspiring websites. I thought I would share them with you :)

Visualize Us  - This link will take you directly to my page. This is kind of like facebook for inspiration. Whenever I am browsing the net, if I see a picture I like, I can right click it and add it to my visualize page and it will save it there. I can see what my friends add and what their friends add and on and on and on and it's highly addictive. Like so addictive you may not want to actually look :) Join if you dare! And tell me what your name is so I can "watch" you, too :)


Stumble Upon - An awesome search engine that picks things it thinks you'd be interested on (based on the criteria you choose) and randomly pulls up a page. You choose to like it, and it saves it in a list for future reference for you, or you thumbs down  it, and get a new one. It's really fun and I have seen all kinds of awesome websites that I would have never stumbled upon before.

March 18

Another layout to share today :) Last week Echo Park was in the designer spotlight at Jessica Sprague and I love their stuff, almost as much as I love Crystal's so I used the new stuff on this Springy layout. Do you like it?
This layout was inspired by another one of Jessica's Photoshop Friday Tutorials all supplies are from Echo Park.

March 17

Okay last weekend, I promised layouts for this week :) Wait no longer! Here is a layout I did of Claire taking a bath. She loves the water! (until you dump it over her head to wash out the shampoo! haha!)

I was inspired by Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday Tutorial for this. I used papers from Crystal Wilkerson again. I really do have other supplies, I just like hers the best :)

March 16

So I thought I would share a couple of pics of Kagen today. Betcha didn't even know he belonged to me  :) I went back through my blog, trying to make sure everyone's getting equal blogspace, and this sweet little boy has got the short end of the stick! In my defense, he's really hard to capture on film. He's moves so fast most of my pics of him end up blurry. And he hates to get dressed. He's in his underwear pretty much all day long, so those don't make for blog friendly pictures. haha! Again, gotta figure out manual mode...

For the record, Kagen is 4, not 3, and he was not as happy as he looked holding that #3 block. It took a couple of jelly beans to get a smile and pose like that! :)

This little boy LOVES his playdough. He gets a new container everyday, and has for weeks now. He plays with it all day long so by the next day he has to get a new container since his is not quishy anymore. Who can say no to that?

He also loves his Buzz backpack from Disney. He carries this almost everywhere, and it's usually loaded with, you guessed it, his Woody toys.

March 15

Today was spent organizing the playroom and hauling crap, er, I mean toys back and forth and up and down the stairs. Seriously, how did we end up with all this stuff ? And who in the world bought all this junk?!

My biggest accomplishment: this toy box.  What's your best guess? How long would this last in your house?

Buzz Lightyear Stuff, Cars, Trains & Guns, & Blocks

March 14

Today we cleaned out all of our school papers and reorganized our school area. That is one of those things that I put off until it's so bad I can't stand to look at it anymore. Is it like that for you, too? I always have the best intentions to file things away everyday, but it's usually easier to just shove the completed work in the cabinet and save it for another day. Until another day comes and I vow to never do that again. You know you do it, too :) haha! Humor me, okay?

So with all that work, we had to take a break and escape from the madness that it is to sort six subjects worth of worksheets for two kids. How about a cookie picnic?


Here they all are, in rare form, together, without fighting! It would have been too much to ask to get them to all look at the camera :) he he!

March 13

We went to church this morning and then spent the afternoon at my inlaws. The kids all played together and we spent the evening relaxing around the house. I worked on a few layouts to share this coming week and got the house back in order for another busy week.

No chance of getting that cup from her today! We are down to one bottle at nighttime so she's not letting go of her cup!

Savanna loves to play with Claire!


Susie did mine and Kalyn's nails :) What a fun treat!


March 12

In preparation for my upcoming design class at Jessica Sprague, I had to get the full version of Photoshop. I thought I'd try it out and see if I can get comfortable with it today. It's so much different than PSE, but had I not already been comfortable with PSE, I think I would have given up. haha! What's super cool about Jessica's classes, besides that they are available forever, is that they are for both versions. So now I get to go back and retake all the classes I took for PSE in the full version. Yay!!!! It's like getting them for free this time. Okay, enough babbling from me :) Check out this gorgeous little boy! Recognize him from yesterday? Yep, same sweet little squishy baby!


Layout inspired by Jessica Sprague's Up & Running Class.  Papers & Embellishments by Crystal Wilkerson.
Bible Verse by God :)  


March 11

Mexican Fiesta at small group :) Yummy! It was most definitely a small group tonight, too. Just us and Kirra and her sweet little ones. I *attempted* to take some pictures of this precious little baby tonight. What do you think? Agreed -- he's adorable!

March 10

So the jelly beans were a hit again! I just had to give the babies some :) Who could resist the opportunity to take pictures of them eating their very first jelly beans? They are so precious!  


Chloe Bug with a very firm grip on her jelly bellys!

Clairabella trying to decide if it was worth giving up her pappy!

If only I had thought of the potential meltdown after the jelly bellys ran out... :(





March 9

So yesterday I was telling you about the book I am reading about scheduling, right? Well, I decided to implement one of the ideas into my schedule. Since I am WAY off  the schedule of training my kids to do chores, and that is something that I want to teach them how to do, both quickly and correctly, according to my standards, I have added in a special training time to our schedule. I find it kinda funny, but it reminds me of dog obedience training. Whatever works though, right? Haha! :)

So here's how it goes. You ask your child to do something. When they respond appropriately, which is with, "Yes Ma'am" and with a smile, you give them a very small single piece of candy, like one jelly belly. When they complete the task and return to you, again they get one very small piece of candy. You do this for like 30 minutes a day, and it is a teaching time for you to use to reinforce what your expectations are, when nothing else is required, except their obedience, and that obedience is the only focus. They are *slightly* rewarded, but highly motivated by that single piece of candy. I know this may not be for everyone, but for me, it was amazing. Love this idea.





Three jelly bellys for three very obedient kids in thirty minutes. I am so okay with that :) 

March 8

My sweet friend Kirra and I were discussing homeschooling/scheduling at our small group last week, and she had a book called "Managers of Their Homes". She let me borrow it, and I have been constantly trying to find a minute to sit and read through it. There are so many great ideas and guidelines that are helpful in setting schedules both in your regular life and homeschooling plans. I have since revised my daily schedule that I made a few weeks ago from Crystal Wilkerson's planner, that I sadly never really followed :( I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to get on a schedule but isn't really sure how, and needs some advice. This book is chock full of some wonderful ideas! I hope you can check it out very soon. It could change your life! Really!
Google Teri Maxwell and go to their website! They have a lot of free information, too.

March 7

The Missionary Luncheon was so wonderful today :) I loved hearing the missionary wives' testimonies. I did end up with a full table, despite the fact that almost all of my close friends were not able to attend, so that was good, too. I was a little worried about that! haha! All of the tables looked so pretty, and I must say that I was super pleased with how mine turned out. So, without further delay, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure :) 

Here's a view of the whole table. Since this was for the missionaries, I thought the "Pray"/Cross Theme that I used for the table decor was quite appropriate. The table was laden with elegant little touches of crystals, pearls and beautiful candles.  At the head of each place setting was a very ornate black cross on a small pedestal, which was sat next to a crystal bordered 2 inch square frame with the Bible verse "Mark 16:15" inside.
This is one of the two different place settings. Each person had a wrapped chocoloate covered strawberry and a bracelet as my gift to them. I always thought it was such a nice touch when the hosts provided that for their guests so I wanted to make sure to do that for mine. I could only find 4 of the zebra teacups and saucers, so I had to improvise a little with the secondary place settings, pictured below.  


How do you like the zebra "napkins"? They are actually bandanas from Hobby Lobby! They tied in the zebra print nicely since I didn't have enough teacups. I was very concerned about that, but we ended up with two of them still clean, so I guess it wasn't really an issue :)

Here's a picture of the chair covering. I found this super wide ribbon at Hobby Lobby for like $5, and had enough on it to do all of the chairs. I just tied a very simple bow with some additional ribbon and called it done :) And Fabulous!

March 6

I have to admit I was a bit of a grouch this morning, pretty much from the time my feet hit the floor. But as soon as I sat down in my seat at church and nonchalantly asked my friend how she was doing, and she told me, I was immediately put in my place with a big dose of  "I am a selfish brat" reality and a new perspective. Do you ever wonder how in the world God could bless you so much and yet you still act as though He hasn't? Well, my ungratefulness changed into thankfulness this morning when our church started our annual Missionary Conference with an incredible worship service and motivational message by Ron Bishop. I just don't even know how much God has done for me!

We served our turn in the nursery, picked up a bucket of chicken for lunch and went back to the church to decorate. I love doing stuff like this and I am so glad that I finally accepted the invitation to host a table this year. The Missionary Luncheon has always been one of my most favorite events that our church puts on. It's always a blessing to hear the testimonies of the missionary wives and to be able to catch a glimpse of their everyday life. The tables looked just beautiful, with their fine china and fresh flowers. Except for mine. No fine china or fresh flowers. Because that's not who I am, with 5 kids. No thank you. My table was, however, a true reflection of me and I am perfectly happy in my imperfection :)  I know you are just dying to see it, but I will have to keep you waiting until tomorrow to further build the suspense. Ok, if I am being honest, I am really making you wait because I didn't finish it. All of my silverware is dirty :) Hey, I do have 5 kids you know. Cut me some slack :) haha!

WW update: I am so off the diet. This week has been full of gluttony to say the least! I can always start again soon, but it won't be tomorrow since us Baptists are going to a luncheon :) Hmmm, maybe Tuesday.

 My pic of the day is a layout I did a few months ago. It is almost time for our annual ladies retreat, too, and that IS my most favorite church event of the year :) This year should be lots of fun. We are stripping all the glitz and glamour in exchange for Camp. Like Youth Camp from 15-20 years ago. I couldn't be more exited :) I don't *have to* play sports this time. I can just go for Jesus and the fellowship, which is all I ever went for years ago anyways. Okay, maybe I went for the boys back then, too. Haha!

March 5

My sister and I went to get pedicures today :) It was painful, probably the worst pedicure I have ever had but my toes are beautiful now. No thanks to the chinese lady who was practically beating my legs up with the massage. My varicose veins make it so hard to get a pedicure and actually enjoy that part. When I told her to use lighter pressure, I think she thought I said use more. Boo hoo :( No pain, no gain, right?

I have been so busy shopping and getting things ready for my table for the Missionary Luncheon on Monday that I completely forgot to take pictures, but I did design this to go into a little 2x2 photo frame at each place setting. What do you think? I am going with the red, black and white color scheme with a little bling and zebra print. It's going to be so nice! I am really excited, can't you tell?


March 4

Remember my pics of the day from February 17? Well, I made a layout with the pictures. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these outfits on my girls. The lime green and purple make their eyes pop.

While I actually put this template together myself, I have Jessica Sprague's amazing classes to thank for the idea. I can't remember if it was from Now We're Rockin or Digi In Deep, but you should take them both anyway :)


Materials from Pink Dahlia Designs All You Need is Love Kit.


March 3

Seriously? I mean, seriously! What is this face about?
Claire's so stinkin' cute! I could just pinch those little fluffy cheeks!

March 2

I have been working very hard on printing and finalizing some of my digital layouts. Today, I made two new layouts, both of which are already printed! Yay! I used the FREE Tuesday Template for both of the layouts but ended up with completely different looks. I did splurge and spend one whole dollar today at Jessica Sprague's One Buck Wednesday Sale, and I got the Pinfeathers kit by Carina Gardner. Here's the layout I made with it.  

Those little feet look familiar, don't they? It's because I already did something with them before :)
Tonight for dinner, I was craving some form of the Chicken & Broccoli Braid recipe from Pampered Chef. It's been so long since I've made it that I couldn't remember what all was in it. I just experimented a little and got super lucky because EVERYONE loved it :) But then again, how could you go wrong with chicken, bacon, and turkey, mixed with cheese and put in crescent rolls? Don't worry you healthnuts -- I put in some broccoli and onion, too :) Here's the other layout I made with the recipe:
Don't you wish you made this for dinner? Go to the store and make it tomorrow! You'll love it, too!


March 1

I have been going through all the files on my hard drive and trying to get rid of stuff I don't need. I came across several digi-scrapping pages that I never finished, so I decided to work on them some more today, now that I have a little more experience under my belt :) I was able to complete three layouts, two of which I will share with you today. Don't forget to stop by Jessica Sprague's Digi Lovely Blog to get your free template for today. I haven't worked on mine yet, but I will show you what I do with it as soon as I get the chance to try it out. Looks like a fun template -- not my typical kind of layout, so I am excited to work on it. Tell me what you think of these:

This was the very first digi layout I ever did by myself without a template.


These pics are from a couple of years ago, but I had started the layout when I started digi scrapping and never really liked it much. I completely reworked it today and I am much happier with the way that this it turned out for me today.