{644.5}

It's ALIVE ALLLLLLIVEEEEE! Seriously, I can't even believe that I only managed 4 measly posts in the month of July. I should officially be banned from blogging.

But today I will try to redeem myself just a wee bit. Jeni and I were feeling the need to create and thought that it was time again for another {644.5} Challenge!

The challenge this week was to: Go outside, close your eyes, spin around 5 times and take a picture. YOU HAVE TO SCRAP IT, no matter how AWFUL or STUPID it was.

So I threw on my flip flops, stumbled around in a circle with Zoe watching with a curious WTH look on her face through the dining room window and ended up with............a picture of the side of my house. First instinct:"What on earth am I going to do with this?" Second "OMG, I know exactly what I want to do!" and here is what I came up with:

The window at the side of my house is my scrapbook room. Filled to the brim with crap right now, well this little hole is where my ideas come to life. Where I put them down on paper, or canvas or heck....photoshop and express what I feel creatively.

I went the digital route this time because it feels like eons since I have scrapped a digital layout. I used this fabulous woodgrain paper that I got for a whopping 33 cents at the Little Dreamer Designs sale! Used a Rhonna Farrer circle brush and some House of 3 brushes that I got from taking Jessica Sprague's Photoshop class.

So there you have it! Now.....you need to go check out what Jeni has in store today! I haven't seen it myself yet (we decided to make it a surprise for each other today), so I am anxious to see what creative work of art she put together. Head on over to her blog and say HI!

I WILL be back later this week with some more layouts and maybe a few John back surgery updates as well.

Have a fabulous Monday!

5 Faves Fridays, 2 weeks late Birthday Edition!

So I made it to the ripe old age of 31. No longer just a 30 year old but a 30-something year old. Gah! But today has been good so far. Lots of lovely birthday wishes and Zoe made me coffee and breakfast this morning.

I have been a bad, busy girl and have neglected my 5 Faves and how I have missed them. So let's just roll with it shall we!

#1. Joanie and her clean bill of health-One of the greatest things about 5 Faves is the amazing friendships that have been forged. And anyone who has joined us in the 5 Faves journey is sure to know the beautiful Joanie by now. What an amazing woman indeed. She is open about her journey with breast cancer and is such an advocate for breast cancer awareness. She had a check up appointment with her Dr. last week and was given the best gift...a clean bill of health! I think we all had a collective sigh of relief. Check out Joanie, the #1 5 Faves AND breast cancer awareness advocate. An inspiring, loving lady whom you need to know!

#2. Gilmore Girls- OK you all know that I HEART GILMORE! And there was a WHOLE SEASON that I didn't even know existed until ABCFamily started playing it a few weeks ago. Well, I have now watched them all. I just got to sit down a few days ago and watch the final show finale and yes I cried like a baby! Zoe kept saying "Gee Mom, get OVER it" but damn it, I love this show and am so sad that Rory didn't marry Logan, was sad to see her move away and leave behind Lorelai but was so thrilled that Lorelai and Luke kissed and made up. Once again I will say this: if you haven't watched this show yet WATCH IT NOW! ABCFamily just started the whole series over again this week. One of my fave all times shows EVER!

#3. ddeforest etsy shop- Dianna puts together some super cute, shabby, vintage kits and she had this to die for b/w houndstooth ribbon that I just had to have! She has a sale going on right now! Check out these cute packs at only $4 a piece!:

#4. Sohomode etsy shop- now while I haven't bought anything from here yet, ughhh I am sorely tempted to. Pencil skirts, aprons, her dresses ohhh her dresses. Crisp, clean, elegant and simple!

#5. Simplyrecipes.com-I don't even remember how I stumbled across this site, but I am a sucker for recipes and pictures of food and well this site is FULL of both! They have spicy, citrus black beans up today and yummo they look so tasty!

#6. Avocados- I used to HATE, LOATHE avocados and now I can't get enough of them. They taste good on almost everything. My favorite way to eat them this past week is:

Flour tortilla, spread cream cheese on top, add chopped onions, 4 slices of avocado, 3 slices of bacon, 1 slice of muenster cheese, 1 romaine lettuce leaf and eat as is OR I have been adding BBQ chicken fingers or smoked turkey slices as well. Oh and if you have ranch, dude throw some of that on there too! And you MUST have some pepperoncinis to go with. I have eaten this no less than 5 times in the past 2 weeks. Also have been making a ton of homemade guacomole too. Here are some more avocado recipes!

#7. Webster's Pages Winter's Wings line- Almost makes me wish it was winter but umm not quite. Totally enjoying the warm weather right now and working on my tan. BUT this line is sooo gorgeous! Take a peek at this:

#8. Amazon gift cards- Zoe and John got me one for my bday and now the only hard part is paring down what I want to get. Cause this girl always wants it ALL LOL! But it was a very sweet present from my 2 favorite peoples! Love you guys!

Ok so I think that is all I can think of for now! Enjoy your day and I am going to go finish having a great Birthday!

It's SNEAK PEEK TIME!!!!!

CHA time is seriously one of my favorite times of year, thank God we get to do it twice right?! All the craziness, short deadlines, new lines and products.....just a great time to be a scrapper!

So with CHA in mind...How about some beautiful Webster's Pages sneaks?
Brandin and Terri have been slaving away the past few months putting together the most beautiful lines of papers to date.

I give you "Postcards from Paris"

Don't you just love the peacock and hot-air balloon images?! I know I do!!

If you are wanting to win some fine beautiful Webster's Pages goodies, well you better head on over to inspireME RIGHT NOW and leave a comment on THIS POST in order to be eligible for our new DAYS OF THE WEEK journaling cards! They are ADORABLE!

And another announcement: Webster's Pages has added 3 amazing, beautiful and insanely talented designers to our team: Lisa Pace, Lucy Edson and last but certainly not least Amy Tara Koeppel. I am so honored to have them be joining us for each girl brings something unique and wonderful to the table. So welcome aboard girls!

In non scrappy news...the weather has cooled off immensely yet somehow Zoe and I both managed our first sunburns of the summer. My great friend Lisa is coming to Oregon all the way from Hawaii and I am so excited to meet her little boy Miles. We are going to have another famous GIRLS NITE OUT in celebration of her being here and my birthday! Jamie, girl your absence will be greatly felt! And Joanie, if you are out there, I hope your Dr.s appointment went well my sweet friend!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

I survived a Jonas Bros. concert

and lived to tell the tale!

So the Jo Bros. concert was a couple of weekends ago. It took a few days to recover from the craziness. Zoe had a blast! You wouldn't believe how many people were outside waiting in line for this thing. Unlike anything I have ever seen before and I have gone to many a concert in my days.

My pictures turned out HORRID. No SLR's were allowed in the building but I managed to get a few videos with my little Kodak camera that I haven't used in years.

Anywhooo. These are the few photos we ended up with. I had to hold all 40 lbs of Zoe with one arm and then try to take pictures with the other.

Here is a quick video as well:

So there you have it. That which does not kill you can only make you stronger ;)

July?!?!?!

July, really? Where has the summer gone. I swear the summer months go by 50 times quicker than the rainy, cold winter months. What gives....

Well July is kicking off with a bang at Webster's Pages! Webster's is celebrating its 4th year in business bringing us all the of beautiful, classy, shabby, wonderful scrapbooking products.

July also happens to be this girl's birthday....So with birthdays and celebrations in mind and MY turn at the monthly challenge at Webster's Pages inspireME site, I chose to have some creative fun by creating and challenging our members to:

Create a Birthday Themed Layout!

What started out as a layout about my upcoming birthday, quickly morphed into a layout about a little saying we have in our household. Zoe, at the age of 3, came up with this little song she would sing called "Happy Birthday to Family Love" and she would give both John and I huge hugs. I found the Family Love quote on our beautiful Sweet As Cherry Pie vellum. And the layout started making itself from there.

So when creating your Birthday Themed Challenge Layout this month, please feel free to think outside the box. Create layout about your pets birthday, a silly family phrase, the way your family celebrates or doesn't celebrate birthdays... Make it fun, make it beautiful and make the challenge work for you!

Please upload entries to our gallery with July Challenge in the title by midnight PST July 31st in order to be eligible for one of our fabulous Webster's Pages paper collections of your choice!

Check out the official challenge thread for all the details!

July ALSO MEANS CHA!!!!!! Yesterday we kicked off our month long JULY JOY RIDE event at inspireME as well. Each day we will be posting sneak peeks, our new design team members and other fun goodies, all leading up to the wonderful fun that is CHA. So grab that old Roxette tape that you KNOW you have laying on the floor of your closet, pack your bags and join the joy ride with us. If you hurry over there right now, you will get to see a SNEAK PEEK of our newest line "Postcards from Paris"! It is truly divine!

The hot weather and sun are beckoning me, so I shall answer their call. Enjoy your day and head on over to see all the fun things that Webster's is brewing!

Wait, what are those I see?

Are those layouts?

What....no wayyyyy....

She did not scrap something.

Well believe it or not, yes I actually did! Just for me. I went over to my friend Tina's house on Saturday for an impromptu crop and I had a blast. I actually managed to get 3 layouts done in 6 hours! Some kind of record for me.

Wanna see what and who I scrapped?

Up first is my cutie pie. I snapped this picture of her on her birthday. She looks so innocent and cute. Don't let the picture fool you though ;)

Next up, is my beautiful friend Jamie. I took a few pictures of her the other day when we were waiting outside a restaurant for our friends to show up. I think she looks BEAUTIFUL!

And last but not least, is a self shot of Zoe and I. We have been dorkin it up, taking lots of pictures of ourselves lately. It has been lots of fun. I think this poorly cropped, out of focus one actually turned out to be one of my favorites.

As with most times when I go to crops, I end up with some sort of theme to my layouts. I used the same somethings on each of these layouts here. Can you figure out what they are?

Five Faves Friday on Saturday "the Birthday Edition"

So it totally isn't my fault that my post is late.

I have reasons, really LOL

Ok sooo anyhow...this week is a special one because my cute girl turned the big "8" on Thursday. So this weeks 5 Faves is dedicated to my Zoe girl.

She had a fabulous skating party last weekend. She got all kinds of wonderful gifts from her friends and Grandma and Auntie June.

John and I saved the BEST present for last.... You will find out what it is in a second.

So without further adieu, my 5 Fave pictures of Zoe's birthday.

#1. This beautiful picture of my now 8 yr old. She just looks so grown up and sassy:

#2.The look on her face. She loooves water balloons!#3. Blowing out her candles. She had a Hannah Montana cake since NOWHERE in this damn hick town had a Jonas Bros. cake. #4. We had a scavenger hunt for her biggest present....Here she is with her"Golden Ticket"

#5. What tickets are THOSE, you might be asking...Tickets to go see the Jonas Brothers World Tour! Check out this face....Remind me it was all worth it just for this face OK!!! I am going to need that reminder when I am surrounded by a sea of Tweens going crazy for the Jo Bros!

So there is my lil pumpkin, all grown up and ever so excited to get to see her favorite band. And I get the Mommy of the Year award for suffering through it....at least I think I deserve it, right? LOL