Getting my groove back

I have really been out of it for awhile.  I could tip toe around it but in all honesty I have just been in a state of depression.  Took me awhile to really see that that was the problem.  And know that I have figured it out I am working on coming out of it.  I expect it will be slow going but I am ready for the challenge.

I had a really busy weekend but it was totally worth it.  Saturday we spent with friends at Adventure Island and Sunday my Diva Princess and I headed up to Disney's Hollywood Studios to meet some out of town friends and their new baby girl they have been blessed with.  Will share more about all of that on another post.

Yesterday was a nice and somewhat quiet day that we spent at home doing nothing in particular.  I was able to take some time to be creative and got most of the laundry done.  Felt good to get some creativity going again.  This week's theme at House of Paper was to do a project and fill in the blank on the sentence "I am..."  My initial thought process was pretty negative -- not surprising given my "down in the dumps" disposition as of late...but with all the fun paper collections Chiara has been bringing into the store it was hard not to do something a little more fun.

One night last week Hunky Hubs decided we should go out to Dairy Queen after dinner for a little treat.  I almost never go anywhere without my camera and the kids were having fun while I snapped away.



I am a Dairy Queen

They just crack me up!  My Diva Princess especially has a sweet tooth -- much like her daddy.  The Summer Days line from Echo Park was just too perfect with these pics :)  Added a little Stickles for a touch of bling as well.  WHY have I not done this sooner?!

Speaking of my Diva Princess, she just turned 10 on the 20th.  SERIOUSLY?!  I confess, I shed a few tears on my way to work that morning.  It just goes way too fast.  I would so love to have another baby but Hunky Hubs and the two offspring keep saying NO :(   Here is my baby girl on the morning of her 10th birthday...we filled her room with balloons before she woke up...




I am 10


The Pink Paislee Soiree is so fun and colorful and I was able to use some of the elements from Echo Park's Dots & Stripes Collection as well.  My sweet girl loved this layout when I showed it to her.  She is very proud of the fact that she is 10 years old now...especially since she was able to save up enough money to get an Ipod Touch...she feels officially grown up now.

You can see what some of the other Interior Designers did with "I am.." HERE in the House Gallery.

If you are a scrapper we would love to have you visit over at The House of Paper.  Sign up for the newsletter and you will be notified when the new products come in and every so often Chiara throws in a discount code...This week the newsletter discount is $5 off your order of $20 or more ENTER COUPON CODE 5off.  The message boards are always a great place to find fun, friendship and inspiration!


You can also "LIKE" House of Paper on Facebook and have access to giveaways and even more discounts...hope to see you there!  If you head over that way, be sure and tell her that Heather sent you :)

Happy Scrapping!

Orange Blossom Shop: GIVEAWAY!!!!

These frames are just so dang caUUUUUUUte!  I totally want one!

Who WOULDN'T want one?!  Lucky for us, they are actually hosting a giveaway on their blog...go check it out...

Orange Blossom Shop: GIVEAWAY!!!!: "We are giving away an 8x8 'Cooper' Circular frame. Colors to choose from: white, black, pink and blue."

ºoº ~ Magical Monday ~ ºoº and NSD

National Scrapbooking Day was this past Saturday...did you get to scrap?  I had big plans to...but alas, it didn't turn out.  Nor did I get that relaxing Mother's Day I was hoping for.  Oh well.  *sigh*

I did get one layout uploaded in honor of National Scrapbooking Day though...better one than none I suppose.  I was able to use some of the Echo Park Christmas with pictures of the life sized gingerbread house at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel we took this past December.

Kind of gives me a craving for some Christmas cookies now ;)

Teacher Appreciation

Most of you know it is Teacher Appreciation Week...
if you don't, it's totally cool because now that I've told you...you know ;)

I must confess, that I haven't done a whole lot in years past for either of my kids' teachers...once they got past Kindergarten there just wasn't any teacher that really inspired me or my kids, for lack of a better term.  This year however, my daughter's 4th grade teacher is A.MAZING.  And ironically enough, I found out she is friends with my most favorite and inspirational teacher that I had growing up...it really is a small world.

Mrs. Anderson has made school fun again for my Diva Princess and she enjoys going...despite all the ridiculousness that seems to ensue in our county.  She has been so helpful and nurturing to my sweet girl and I have seen such growth and I know it is because of Mrs. Anderson...and Alyson even says so herself.  So, with that being said, I knew that was going to plan more than just one gift for Teacher Appreciation Week...and seriously, there is so much inspiration out there, I could probably send something in to school everyday from now until the end of the year and never run out of ideas!

Over the weekend I put together the first gift of the week using an OH SO CUTE Subway Art Printable from Eighteen25....seriously cute! (not to mention they have so many other cute printables and ideas!)

See...cute, right?!

I also picked up a nice frame from Walmart that was on clearance for $5.  I loved that it is 11x14 with a mat and the frame itself was so nice I knew I wouldn't need to paint it or anything...LOVE IT!  Once I started putting it together though I knew the mat was going to need something else because the off white with the white of the subway art was NOT working for me.

Now, I have to be honest, I had been so busy over the weekend that I wasn't finally putting this together until late Sunday night so I didn't have a whole lot of time to make this work.  Initially I thought I would use some pretty scrapbooking paper around the mat but as I was standing in my scrap space pondering my choices, I looked up and saw my little collection of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Sprays.  It was like I could hear the angels sing...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

(okay, so maybe I exaggerate a little)...

BUT I knew what I was going to do...

Please forgive the not so great pics...like I said, I was doing this late Sunday night ;)

I took the mat out of the frame and spritzed it several times over to dress it up.  I was so loving it when it was finished!  I don't think you can really see it in the pics but it had a great shimmer to it and a few splatter dots and it just gave it an overall awesome look (if I do say so myself!)



I let it dry overnight and then put everything together lickety-split in the morning.  My little Diva Princess loved it and as it turns out so did the Awesome Mrs. Anderson...

You'll have to forgive my sweet girl's sleepy-eyed smile...
she hadn't brushed her teeth yet so she didn't want to show them!  LOL!

It's not too late to get your Free Teacher Subway Art and send one in to your favorite teacher!

I didn't take a picture of today's gift but I sent in a collection of books for Mrs. A's classroom library along with some labels I had made through Vistaprint...it cost me a total of about $3 and they looked something like this...(obviously with Mrs. Anderson's name on them)

(I got the idea for these from MomsByHeart.net ...another super cute idea!) 

Still trying to decide what I am sending in tomorrow...but I have more than a few ideas to choose from.  Have you sent anything in to your favorite teachers this week?

All about the music

This week at the House of Paper our projects were all about music.  I love music and could easily give up TV...but never music!  Right now,  my favorite song is P!NK's Perfect.  I have always been a fan of hers, both her voice and her lyrics inspire me.  So many of her songs have really great messages and this one in particular makes me think of my kids every time I hear it and I periodically like to remind them that they ARE indeed perfect TO ME!  I think my daughter especially needs this constant reminder and we both love singing this song at the top of our lungs together!

Needless to say, my first project was inspired by this song and I had some pictures I just took of my kiddos on Easter that I thought would be great for the layout...

My next layout features pictures of my kiddos last summer when they had their piano and voice recital...my All Star Son played piano while my Diva Princess sang.  I always get a little teary-eyed whenever I see my kiddos front and center ;)

The House is gearing up for National Scrapbooking Day and Chiara has actually posted a PRE-NSD Challenge...to do your own layout about music.  We would love to have you come over and play!